


Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Shrek (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29419716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: Both Cherry and Shrek are feeling frustrated with their exhausting and adventurous lives and wish for a change of pace. When Cherry and her friends visit Shrek and Fiona for their triplets' birthday party, they soon meet a mysterious man who promises to give them a deal to help reward them with an easier life, it quickly comes with a dark and cruel twist of fate.
Relationships: Donkey/Dragon (Shrek), Fiona/Shrek (Shrek)
Comments: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Lionel was once again looking through today's mail when the door flew open, and Cherry pulled herself inside, covered in bruises, burns, and a small part of her hair was on fire. "HOLY MEPHISTOPHELES!" he exclaimed as his eyes nearly burst out of his skull. He took a handful of salt and put it on Cherry's hair to smother the fire. "Sweet Mary Lou! What the hell happened t' _you_?!"

"You _don't_ wanna know..." Cherry narrowed her eyes as her left eye twitched. "Let's just say it got out of hand."

Thunder and lightning soon came from upstairs as Cherry collapsed to the floor and tried to get as much sleep as possible. Drell was soon looking over a clipboard and checking some boxes on the paper as he came downstairs after coming out of the closet before he looked down at Cherry and kicked her side a little to wake her up.

"Ugh... What?" Cherry complained as she glared, looking up at him.

"So... How did it go?" Drell asked.

"How did it go...?" Cherry repeated sharply before she stood up sharply. "LOOK AT ME!"

"Count your blessings, at least you didn't die this time." Drell shrugged as he added that to his notes.

"Ugh!" Cherry scowled. "You don't even care about me, you callous jerk!"

"I do care... I care for all of my children-wildren~" Drell said before picking her up and cooing before rubbing their cheeks together before holding her out. "Phew! ...You could use a bath though... Get on that, will ya?" he then said as he set her back down on the floor.

"Ugh..." Cherry groaned and rolled her eyes. "Oh, well... At least I can relax until the next adventure."

"Heh... Silly, foolish youth," Drell chuckled and shook his head. "First thing tomorrow, you and your little friends are coming to the gym to prepare for something even bigger and more grand and epic than what you just did."

"Tomorrow's Saturday!" Cherry cried out as she flailed her arms. "Gimme a break, will ya?! I feel like I've been taken away from home nonstop for the past month and a half!"

"Well, too bad," Drell retorted. "We can't just cancel everything on account of widdle Cherry bein' all tuckered out."

"I can!" Lionel called.

"JUST TRY IT, SHORT STACK!" Drell shouted. "I DARE YA!"

Cherry soon flopped in the background as her forehead hit the wall. Lionel then attempted to beat up Drell, only for the warlock to deflect his attacks and push away the smaller being.

"Now... I better go see Hilda for dinner," Drell smirked. "I'm gonna make my famous pot roast. You kiddies have fun and Cherry? I'd like to talk to you about that wolf friend of yours who thinks she can end up becoming stronger than me someday..." he then chuckled before walking off to leave back into his Home Realm.

Lionel hoisted Cherry to her feet. "Stupid jerk. If he actually cared, he'd let you recuperate, but nooooo!" he muttered as he helped to treat her injuries. "I didn't realize with all that power came a big fathead!"

"It's not just him, Lionel," Cherry sighed as she sat down while he treated her. "It's these adventures... I'm always coming and going... And going and coming... Day in and day out... Whether it's one of us, all of us, or watching something..." she then sharply sighed and groaned.

"Why did you even sign up for this lifestyle if it exhausts you so much?" Lionel asked. "You get tired just by getting home off of the school bus."

"It was more or less unintentional," Cherry replied. "After Sabrina found out she was a witch around the age of 12, Atticus and I started noticing changes in ourselves after that had happened before we met you and Mo and of course, Thor or Patch. Apparently we saw and knew too much and we could either have our memories erased and go back to normal lives or we could find out more and go on special adventures/missions... Since then... We haven't looked back... And to think it all started with Cinderella."

Lionel sighed as he hugged her. "I know that you're already regretting such a wild lifestyle, but honestly? Even if things get kinda bad, you've helped change so many people's lives. Especially mine. Don't go forgetting that, or you might just end up making a horrible mistake that wouldn't just affect you, but the lives of others. Sorta like _'It's A Wonderful Life'_ , you know?" he explained.

"Yeah, I know," Cherry nodded, a bit groggily. "Especially with how your life used to be before you somehow made it into this dimension. I should count my blessings, but sometimes, it just feels like I'm being put through a wringer on the basis... I guess it could be worse," she then added before falling flat on the floor. "Might as well get some rest while I can."

"Hey, Cherry," Atticus said as he opened the front door and came to see her. "Don't forget to study for our Math test in school later."

"Ugh... I won't..." Cherry groaned.

"Boy, you look like trash," Atticus said in concern. "Maybe you should get some sleep."

"Yes, rest is important, especially in a world of adventures." Mo added as she stood beside Atticus.

"Doesn't anybody knock anymore?" Cherry deadpanned to herself.

"Can I help you with anything?" Lionel asked. "Or did you just come to pile _more_ stress on her for no reason?"

"Did... We do something wrong?" Atticus asked.

"Aw, gee, Atticus, I don't know if you've noticed, but I was going through HELL on my latest solo mission for that fat quack we're forced to sit through as Head of the Witch's Council _and_ our adventure guardian!" Cherry glared sharply as she sat up.

"Whoa." Atticus said.

"It was not easy and I called you guys every day trying not to have a nervous breakdown, but I am probably gonna have nightmares for weeks!" Cherry continued.

"Yikes." Atticus then said.

"Ya know, Atticus, you could say 'Oh, I'm sorry about that', or 'Gosh, that's a bummer, but it'll be okay'," Cherry soon said, slowly sounding like she was ready to have a nervous breakdown. "Or maybe showing a LITTLE BIT OF SYMPATHY?!"

"The point is, maybe say something other than 'whoa' or 'yikes'," Lionel stated. "Because just mildly reacting only makes you sound like you couldn't care less about what she's going through."

"Just trying to make small talk." Atticus shrugged bashfully.

Cherry just narrowed her eyes in annoyance as she shooed Atticus and Mo out the door and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Why don't you take a shower and we'll watch _The Drew Carey Show_?" Lionel offered. "That usually calms you down."

Cherry hummed firmly as she nodded before walking off to the bathroom.

"Good thinking!" Lionel replied. "I got your episodes taped on the DVR!"

"All right," Cherry sighed sharply. "I'll go take a shower and we'll watch some with either popcorn chicken and pizza bagels if there are any left."

"I'll check the freezer for them." Lionel replied as Cherry went up to shower.

Cherry soon started the water. Lionel opened the freezer... Only to see that both snacks were gone and he soon looked around before whistling as he used his powers to restock the freezer and get the snacks ready for eating so to help make her day better. Cherry sighed as she had it rough lately and this past month seemed to emphasize on how rough her life could be sometimes, even in school as everything seemed to go wrong like some sort of sick, twisted Law of Murphy. Cassandra passed Cherry a note during a big test and Cassandra made it look like Cherry was copying answers for the test, sending the perky goth to detention, Thor accidentally got Cherry in trouble for something that he didn't mean for, Patch accidentally tore up her homework... Not to mention the vicious and constant demands from Drell and his adventures as it made her feel victimized and sometimes she wished that things could be different. She began to fume as the water poured down on her head.

* * *

Eventually, after a while, Cherry left the shower and jumped onto the couch beside Lionel as they shared pizza bagels and popcorn chicken. "So, what's tonight's episode?" she then asked.

"One of those 'What's Wrong with this Episode?' episodes." Lionel replied.

"Ah, those are always fun," Cherry nodded. "It's like watching a Highlights magazine."

"I remember when you told me that, so thanks!" Lionel replied as he took out some pencils and paper to take note. "Also, we got some stuff in the mail. One of the letters was marked 'From Far Far Away'."

"'Far Far Away'?" Cherry asked. "I haven't heard of that place in a while."

"Well, it's for you if you wanna see it, of course for me too, but I thought you'd like the honor." Lionel shrugged.

Cherry took the letter before opening it up. "Ah..." she then said before looking through the letter a bit. "...Shrek and Fiona have invited me and a few friends, no points for guessing or deciding who, to a birthday party for... Felicia, Fergus, and Farkle?" she then blinked at the three names menionted before chuckling and smirking. "Heh... I guess Shrek and Fiona did the deed."

"Oh, cool," Lionel replied. "Maybe gimme a quick rundown on these guys, please?"

"Oh, I never told you about Shrek and Fiona?" Cherry asked.

Lionel just shook his head at her with a small shrug.

"Very well," Cherry sighed before taking out her "Adventures" scrapbook and opened it up to when she had first met Shrek and Fiona which felt like a lifetime ago. "'Once upon a time, there was an ogre named Shrek... He lived alone in a swamp with no friends or family and that was just the way he had liked it. That was, until he met a talking donkey named... Well... Donkey. Shrek saved Donkey from a horrible man named Lord Farquaad who had evicted several Fairy Tale characters away from their homes and Shrek went on a quest to confront Farquaad who then sent Shrek on another quest to rescue the beautiful and yet cursed Princess Fiona'."

"Cursed, huh?" Lionel asked.

"Yes," Cherry nodded as she turned the page. "Personally, I think she looks better as an ogress if you ask me."

"Fair enough," Lionel nodded. "So what happened next?"

"Well, of course, we helped her and had to bring her back to Duloc," Cherry said. "Plus her tower had a fire-breathing dragon who later fell in love with Donkey... Probably best not to question that, especially with the Dronkeys."

Lionel looked curious, but nodded as she kept talking.

"Eventually, Shrek and Fiona fell in love and went to live happily ever after together," Cherry continued to explain to him. "Farquaad was defeated, Fiona became a permanent ogress, we became brave heroes, and we later met them again after the honeymoon to then meet Fiona's parents: King Harold and Queen Lillian."

"I'm guessing that was incredibly and utterly awkward, right?" Lionel suggested.

"Yeah... King Harold wasn't exactly ecstatic about the fact that an ogre was gonna be his son-in-law." Cherry nodded.

"Hm..." Lionel then paused.

"He seemed to get over it eventually, though he was teamed up with Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming... F-From the Shrek world anyway," Cherry said before smirking. "Wow, that'd be an interesting image if it was with the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming that Atticus and I used to know with Cinderella."

"I can only imagine." Lionel said.

"Turns out that King Harold was The Frog Prince and he made a deal with Fairy Godmother," Cherry then said. "But Queen Lillian still loved him after he got cold feet about giving a potion to Fiona to make her fall in love with Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother's son... Don't ask me how that works. Shrek even took a potion to become human so that he could make Fiona happy because the Fairy Godmother how ogres don't live happily ever after."

"That explains why King Harold was so against Shrek being Fiona's champion," Lionel replied. "Because he reminded him of himself."

"I suppose that's an interesting way of looking at it," Cherry nodded. "That's pretty much it... And now I guess Shrek and Fiona are parents... Aww, how ugly and cute at the same time... I guess they're kinda... Ugly Cute..." she then said as she looked at the invitation to see three ogre babies: two boys and a girl.

"The term works. I guess we could go to the party, eh?" Lionel suggested. "Maybe that'd be a bit of a breather for us."

"Yeah, I suppose we could go to this little party." Cherry nodded.

"Did somebody say party?" Thor grinned as he rose up from behind the couch.

"No?" Cherry blinked.

"I'd love to go!" Thor beamed. "Lemme see!"

"Hey! Calm down!" Lionel snapped. "Bad enough Cherry is stressed out from everything going on lately! She's going so she can take a break and relax! And what the blazes are you even _doing_ behind the couch?!"

"I'm sorry, Lionel," Thor pouted as he stepped back. "I didn't know she was so stressed out."

"And now why were you behind the couch?" Lionel asked.

"I was waiting for Cherry to get back home so I could ask about how her solo mission went." Thor pouted as he looked around like a sad puppy dog.

"She limped in covered in bruises, and her hair was on fire, so I'd say not great," Lionel replied flatly. "Guess you dozed off while waiting..."

"I did," Thor replied. "I had no idea."

"Are you gonna go then?" Lionel asked.

"Yeah... Sorry... Tell her I'm sorry for intruding like that," Thor said as he decided to get back home. "Hopefully she'll be alright by tomorrow. Text or call me~"

"Might take longer than that, but I'll try." Lionel replied.

Thor soon walked on out as he hung his head in slight shame and embarrassment.

"Ugh... That boy..." Cherry groaned and shook her head. "Can't I have a little time to relax and recharge?"

"Honestly? That's what I'm hoping for." Lionel agreed.

Cherry soon sat with Lionel and luckily, she had her time to recuperate, even though it would be a challenge especially considering what she would have to do the next day and who knows what else afterwards?

"When's the party?" Lionel asked Cherry.

"Mm... Day after tomorrow..." Cherry said as she checked the invitation. "Can't come any sooner. Hopefully Cathleen doesn't get mad at me if she doesn't get included in certain adventures... She's a good kid, but she gets a little full of herself sometimes."

"Believe me, I'm aware." Lionel replied.

Cherry nodded as they enjoyed the rest of the show and their snacks until they had enough and started to get a little tired. She decided not to visit the Dream Realm tonight as she felt too tired to care and was sure nothing bad would happen overnight. However, that would come back to bite her in the following morning since she didn't do her job that night, but more on that later.

* * *

The next morning, Cherry woke up with a yawn. "Huh... That felt good!" she exclaimed.

Lionel had bloodshot eyes, and shaky arms. "D-Don't... Don't let 'em g-get me... Don't let 'em g-get me...!" he mumbled as his eyes darted from side-to-side.

"Lionel?" Cherry asked in concern and went over to him, trying to calm him down. "Hey, hey, hey... Easy."

"Yaugh!" Lionel yelped as he flinched a bit.

"...Are you okay?" Cherry asked him.

"Oh... Apologies," Lionel replied. "I must look a frightful sight... It's just that every time I tried to fall asleep last night, I've been plagued with horrible, horrible nightmares... So I couldn't stay asleep!"

"You did...?" Cherry asked weakly and softly. "Oh..."

"It was horrible," Lionel shuddered. "I might take a while to recover."

"G-Go take a hot shower," Cherry suggested. "I'm sure it'll be a little better after that. I'll make you some hot chocolate."

Lionel soon went off to the bathroom, trying to do what she said.

"Relax, Cherry, it was probably just a coincidence," Cherry said to herself, trying not to panic. "You'd only be in real trouble if Drell left a message to come into his office or something like that." So she continued on her way to get ready for school that day.

Lionel slowly calmed down, though he still had bags under his eyes.

Cherry waited on the porch of her house for Lionel to catch up if he wanted to come along as she looked out into the neighborhood with a sharp sigh. "I didn't sign up for this exhausting life," she then said. "Sometimes I just can't help but wonder... What would happen if I just got kidnapped or sent away or never bothered anyone in my life? Maybe it would be easier that way."

"Bogus-bullshit-baloney!" Lionel managed to say as he pulled himself outside. "Did you recently hit your head and lose your memory? Because it seems that you have completely forgotten about any of the good you have accomplished! Honestly, I know that bad stuff happens to you, I know that you regret some decisions you've made in your life, but I would never say that it would be 'easier' if you were never in anyone's life!"

"Nice to have ya back, Lionel." Cherry smirked once he came outside to see her.

"Nice to be back," Lionel replied as he sat down by her. "Point is, in every situation like this, the person who wishes they were never around only thinks about how the wish will affect them. They NEVER bother to think about how said wish will affect others!"

"So I've heard." Cherry shrugged.

"At least you did your homework, right?" Lionel asked.

"...We had homework?" Cherry asked before groaning and hitting her head a bit. "Augh! I knew I was forgetting something while I was gone after Drell dragged me out of Greendale right after school the other day!"

"Re-lax, Cherry, re-laaax," Lionel said as he gave her the pages. "I asked if I could collect your homework since you'd just been called away, and I managed to get in both yours _and_ mine."

"Oh... Cool..." Cherry then said as she took it. "Heheh... I almost lost my hair and teeth there for a second..."

"And we can't have _that_ ," Lionel added. "No way, nuh-uh!"

* * *

Eventually, they got going as the bus came for them and they rode away to school. The bell then rang as the students came into the hallways to talk, get stuff out of their lockers, or just hang out until the class bell would ring.

"I don't see the point of going to school when my life is just destined for adventures," Cherry said as she came into the hallway with Lionel. "Know what I'm sayin'?"

"I know," Lionel replied. "Every time that something massive happens, you end up getting yanked out of class and end up missing half the school day, and odds are the teachers discussed some important stuff in class. If that's gonna happen, then the only reason you end up going to school is just so you're not marked absent for the day."

"Not to mention that sometimes the school explodes or the toilets back up or there's an early dismissal for a group adventure," Cherry said with a weary groan. "Shrek and Fiona's party can't get here sooner."

"Just wait it out, it'll be here before you know it." Lionel coaxed.

"Yeah, yeah," Cherry nodded. "Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if a nice Amish family adopted me."

"Then you probably wouldn't be able to use the computer," Lionel replied. "Last I checked, the Amish aren't exactly 'up with technology'."

"Then a rich family could adopt me," Cherry shrugged. "I'm cute."

"Yes, you are, but you'd probably just be a snob." Lionel replied.

"Then I guess it's just destiny," Cherry shrugged as she grunted while trying to open her locker. "Ugh! Open, you stupid locker!" she then began to pound her hands on it, yelling in frustration. "COME ON! I SAID!"

The locker door soon flung open and whacked her right in the face.

"Aw, gimme a BIG! FAT! BREEEEAK!" Cherry soon yelled as she now had a bloody nose.

Lionel snapped his fingers and cured her bleeding nose. "There you go. I'm sorry about that." he apologized.

"It's fine..." Cherry groaned.

Lionel frowned softly as she soon got her stuff and stormed off into class. "Hopefully the time passes by soon." he said hopefully.

Eventually, everyone sat in class, a bit quietly and boredly as they listened and paid attention to the lesson as much as possible. And so, the day went by.

"These long school days, man." Atticus said to Mo.

"Yeah." Mo replied.

Cherry soon walked right past them.

"Hey, Cherry, how are you feeling today?" Atticus asked with a small smile.

"I'm okay for someone who had been to Hell and back in time for school on Monday," Cherry grumbled as Atticus was about to say something. "Atticus James Fudo, I swear, if you don't say anything even remotely helpful, I am never speaking to you ever again."

Atticus let out a small wince. "...I'm sorry," he then said. "How about we get some Wendy's after school?"

"Capital idea!" Lionel declared. "So then let's get a move on!"

Cherry just grumbled a bit as they soon walked off together.

"Anyone else have the craziest nightmare last night?" Atticus asked as they sat down. "I mean... I thought I saw Uncle Sombra last night."

"I was worried that I'd be taken away from my parents and sent to a Foster Home in Switzerland or something," Mo shivered. "Either that or be sent to a boarding school to become a proper young lady."

"...Too horrible to describe..." Lionel remarked, twitching.

"You guys had nightmares...?" Cherry asked. "Oh... I-I didn't know."

"Did you take the night off without telling anyone?" Thor asked as he munched on some fries.

Cherry gulped a little. "M-Maybe for just a little bit," she then said nervously. "I-I mean... I was gonna come check on you guys in a little bit after my nap."

"Did you ever wake up from this nap?" Atticus asked.

Cherry sweat-dropped with a groan. "I'm screwed, aren't I?" she then asked. "Either by Luna or Drell."

"This is why they should've hired extra help," Lionel replied. "This way, even if Cherry isn't accounted for, there would still be someone to protect the Dream Realm."

"Not my fault I'm just one person..." Cherry said wearily. "And people wonder why I always sleep during the day or never sleep at all some of the times."

"There you are..." Drell's voice said as he slammed the restaurant door open and stormed over.

Cherry gasped and ducked under the table.

"Uncle, please, be gentle," Thor said nervously. "Cherry's had a bad week."

"Can't be worse than the nightmares everyone's been suffering from because of a new threat because a certain somebody didn't do her job last night." Drell glared.

"Ugh! Someone else should've done it then!" Cherry complained as she glared from where she was hiding. "I'm a teenager with a zillion other responsibilities and people keep expecting me to keep up with them all the time!"

"Yeah! She's just one person!" Lionel added. "So instead of relying on her to handle it all, do the sensible thing and recruit extra help to pick up the slack when she can't get it done!"

"Well, if you want to yell at someone, yell at Princess Luna, it was her idea, not mine." Drell replied.

"Did you come here for any other reason than to crap on me?" Cherry narrowed her eyes.

"Well, because of you, the Dream World is in serious trouble," Drell told her. "So you're coming with me for some special training and I don't care how long it takes. Hilda will have to wait."

"Oh, yes, how dare MY busy schedule interfere with YOUR social life," Cherry rolled her eyes. "How careless of me to be thrown into the wringer before I go see some old friends of mine from Far, Far Away."

"Yes; I mean, sure she's about to have a mental breakdown, but CLEARLY your situation is MUCH more important," Lionel added with sarcasm. "I mean, if she happens to snap and go apeshit, oh well!"

"I won't take that tone," Drell scolded. "I'll just give you the short version."

"By all means, do try." Cherry practically snarked at him.

"Very well," Drell rolled his eyes a bit. "There's a Nightmare King on the loose. You were supposed to protect your friends, but he's loose and only you can find out who he is."

"Nightmare King? I thought I got rid of that clown." Cherry replied.

"You did, but there's a new Nightmare King and he appears to be a fear-bender," Drell informed. "That means he can control one's fears and use them against his victims to manipulate them and terrorize them within their sleep."

"Oh, great! Like she _really_ needs more crap to make her want to wish she was never born, or adopted by somebody else." Lionel remarked.

Cherry narrowed her eyes with a light growl.

"I can't change destiny," Drell said before walking off. "Enjoy your party."

"Believe me, I will." Cherry said thickly through her teeth.

"Well, who _said_ she was gonna ask you to change it?!" Lionel called back. "Selfish jerk..."

"Spoiled brats..." Drell grumbled to himself.

"That man..." Cherry narrowed her eyes. "Makes me wonder why I even let Hilda give him a second chance."

"Because you felt bad for him and you know what it feels like to have your heart stomped on during Valentine's Day." Thor piped up from the back.

Cherry turned her head sharply, glaring at him in a Batman fashion.

"...I'll stay out of this." Thor said nervously.

"Yeah, you _will_ ," Lionel retorted. "...Still, we may as well look forward to the party."

"Fine..." Cherry spat out. "We'll go tomorrow some time."

The others nodded in agreement as they were sure a visit out of Greendale would be just what Cherry would need. And the next day, that's just what they did: after getting ready to go to the birthday party, they met up at their rendezvous point.

* * *

"So how are we gonna get there, exactly?" asked Lionel.

"I'll use a spell using my book from Aunt Delilah and Cherry can use her scrapbook from the first Shrek adventure to pinpoint the location." Atticus explained.

"Is she coming still?" Mo asked Lionel.

"She's coming," Lionel nodded. "She just wanted some time to blow off some steam so she doesn't lash out at us."

* * *

**_Brief cut to the Butler house..._ **

Cherry was heard yelling and roaring as she was punching the stuffing out of a punching bag that had a headshot of Drell on it, taking her anger and frustration out on it with boxing gloves as she looked very violent and aggressive.

* * *

**_Back with the others..._ **

"I just hope we're in there in time for cake." Lionel then said.

"Yeah." Atticus nodded, holding a present.

"Would it be weird if I gave _this_ as a present?" Lionel asked as he held up a copy of "SHREK!" by William Steig.

"Kinda, but you should be fine." Atticus replied.

Cherry soon came on out. "Hey, guys, sorry I took so long, but-" she then paused before looking over. "Huh... I feel like I haven't seen that book since Kindergarten."

"I'm gonna give it as a birthday present," Lionel replied. "I wasn't sure to bring, so this was my best suggestion."

"I'm sure the kiddies will enjoy it." Cherry said.

"Cherry, your scrapbook, please?" Atticus requested.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure," Cherry said as she held it out for him. "Take it away, Nancy."

Atticus rolled his eyes as he cracked open the scrapbook and checked his Aunt Delilah's Wiccan spell book before he began to recite the spell as he waved his hand ins front of the page of when they first met Shrek. " _'Butterfly in the sky, I can fly just as high, Take us back to our old friend so helpful and fair, To Shrek and Fiona's swamp, take us there'_." he then recited.

And at that, the group began to glow and they were suddenly taken away from Greendale and right into a brand new adventure with Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and Puss in Boots.


	2. Chapter 2

"Whoo~!" Lionel whooped as the group landed in Far Far Away. "Crikey, that is _always_ such a rush!"

"We made it." Atticus smiled.

"Let's go look out for our little ogre family then." Mo suggested.

"Hmm..." Thor paused thoughtfully as he glanced all around.

"All right, now according to the invitation, Shrek and the family should be at this new place called 'The Candy Apple' or 'The Happy Apple'." Cherry told the others as she checked her invitation.

The group all looked up from their invitations and nodded at one another.

"All right, let's get going then," Cherry said. "Also seems to be the former residence of The Poison Apple... That bad guy bar from the last Shrek adventure."

"Guess The Evil Queen owns that place." Atticus shrugged at himself.

"Ya got me, Nancy." Cherry shrugged back, though rolled her eyes a little.

"Nice landing, honey," A familiar voice said after something very large and winged landed right behind them before they went to step inside of the place. "And remember, no eating the valet."

"Sounds like Donkey and Dragon are here." said Atticus.

"Happy Birthday, ninos! Vamos a la fiesta!" declared another voice with a Spanish accent.

"And there's Puss." Mo smiled.

"The gang's all here." Cherry remarked.

Two ogres soon came by after helping a trio of ogre babies off of the dragon's back as she smiled.

"Don't worry, she won't bite." Cherry told Lionel about the dragon who was shown.

"Ahhhh, so she and Donkey are married," Lionel replied. "That's pretty sweet."

"Yeah, that's where the Dronkeys came from." Cherry nodded.

The dragon/donkey hybrids soon saw Cherry and tackled her.

"Wah! Get off of me!" Cherry yelped before she started laughing as they licked her face like they were puppies. "Stop! Quit it! I'm gonna turn you all into handbags!"

"Well, at least she seems happier." Lionel smiled.

Cherry soon wiped the Dronkey slobber off of her.

"Cherry, Atticus, you came and you brought some friends." Fiona smiled.

"We hope that's okay." Atticus smiled back.

"Mo, good, you're good with babies, here." Shrek said as he carried the triplets and made the tomboy hold onto them for him.

"Aww... They're so adorable!" Mo beamed as she carried the ogre triplets. "You guys are parents now."

"Congratulations." Atticus added.

"Thanks," Shrek replied, a bit weary. "They're about to be a year old today."

"Nice to meet you," Lionel nodded. "Lionel Schwartz."

"Lionel... Good to know ya," Shrek replied before whispering. "Maybe you could hold onto the little tykes for about two, maybe three months?"

"I dunno if Fiona would approve of that." Mo chuckled playfully.

"Thorton Moltenscar... 'Thor' for short... Esquire..." Thor soon said, trying to sound grown-up.

"He's... He's weird." Cherry whispered to Shrek and Fiona.

"I'm unique." Thor bragged with a smirk.

Cherry buried her face in her hands and shook her head. Shrek soon got ready to get going before a group of villagers rushed over with pitchforks and torches, but not in the way they used to long before he had met Fiona and Donkey which seemed to make him a little unhappy, even if he was feared and despised back then.

"Hey, Shrek! Shrek!" The villagers cried out happily like a horde of fans.

"Mr. Shrek, will you sign our pitchforks?"

"And our torches?"

"Man, you used to be so fierce!"

"Yeah, when you were a real ogre."

Shrek looked insulted by that. "Whaddya mean a _real_ ogre?" he asked.

"Damn... That _has_ to be a blow to his ego." Lionel remarked.

"Scorch." Cherry added.

* * *

Eventually, the others came inside as a little show was being put on by a certain boy puppet.

"Happy Birthday Bash!, No more diaper rash!, One year older, not a pain, Friends still remain the same, refrain~," Pinocchio sang for the triplets as the party came inside to celebrate the triplets. "Super duper, party pooper!, Birthday, birthday, birthday bash!, Birthday, birthday, birthday bash!~"

Everyone else was singing along... Though, not exactly everybody.

"Why does there always have to be singing?" Cherry groaned to herself.

"I feel the same way sometimes," Shrek replied. "My life's not a musical."

Lionel glanced at the readers. "Nobody let him see Netflix," he whispered. "He might just snap."

"Shrek, it's a sing-along," Donkey said as he noticed that his ogre friend wasn't singing along to Pinocchio's song. "You've got to sing along!"

"No, thanks." Shrek declined.

"Please? I'll be your best friend." Donkey smiled innocently.

"Why does being your best friend entail me doing everything I don't want to do?" Shrek groaned before flinching as his daughter squeaked her toy in his ear and he soon put it down with a small smile. "Please, Felicia, not in Daddy's ear."

Just then, a man tapped Shrek on the shoulder. "Excuse me, Mr. Shrek? Could you do that ogre roar of yours for my son?" he asked. "He's a big, big fan."

Next to him stood his son, a chubby little boy with a grumpy-looking straight face and lollipop in his fist. "Do the roar." he said.

"You know, I'd rather not," said Shrek sheepishly. "It's my kids' birthday party."

"Do the roar." said the pudgy kid.

Fiona then came by and took Fergus off Shrek to hold him for a little bit.

"Honey? Why don't you go check on the cake?" asked Fiona.

Shrek sighed. "Sure." he replied, as he went to go check on the birthday cake.

"And don't forget the candles." Fiona added as Lionel put the book onto the present table.

"Shrek, you look exhausted." Cherry remarked.

"Try being a father and a major celebrity for a day and see how you feel." Shrek grinned, trying really hard not to snap.

* * *

At the kitchen area, the Muffin Man was finishing putting some decoration on Gingy's legs. "Hold still." he told his favorite gingerbread man before he then finished up.

"Thanks for the pants, Muffin Man. I always wanted chaps!" Gingy beamed before he began to act like a Gingerbread Cowboy. "Yee-haw! Giddy up!"

Shrek then arrived at the counter.

"Ah, Monsieur Shrek." The Muffin Man greeted the ogre.

"Howdy, Shrek!" Gingy added.

"Your cake. Voila!" The Muffin Man announced, holding out a tray of a cake with a happy and adorable ogre and even had candy corn for teeth with frosting all over the place.

Shrek was appalled by this saccharine sight. "What is that supposed to be?" he asked.

"That's Sprinkles the Ogre!" beamed Gingy.

Doris, from Shrek 2 (played by Larry King), came through to pick up the plates. "Isn't he cute? He looks just like you." she noted.

"Except happy!" Donkey added. "It's a party, Shrek. You gotta cheer up!"

Shrek, still feeling bitter, started carrying the cake away. "I'm in a great mood, actually..." he grumbled through his teeth.

"Sure, that's me in a good mood on Monday." Cherry remarked as she flaunted her hand.

"Cherry, be nice." Atticus reminded.

"I am!" Cherry defended.

"Oh, I'm gonna lick me a rainbow!" Donkey beamed before he soon suddenly licked the cake.

"Donkey!" Shrek complained before seeing the kid and his father again.

"As long as you're not doing anything, how about one of those famous Shrek roars?" The boy's father asked Shrek.

"Do the roar." The boy demanded again.

"Let me set you straight, Butterpants. An ogre only roars when he's angry," Shrek chuckled sheepishly. "You don't want to see me angry, do you?"

"Do it." The boy urged before he then licked his lollipop.

Cherry soon snickered once she heard the kid's name, trying not to laugh out loud at it.

"Hold it together..." Shrek told himself. "Just hold it together..."

"Daddy, he's getting away. Do something." said Butterpants.

Soon, Shrek set the cake down at the table.

"Oh good," Fiona said, until she saw the smear on the cake. "What happened to the cake?"

"Trust me, it's an improvement." remarked Shrek.

"You licked it!" accused Queen Lillian.

"No." Shrek protested.

"Just because you're an ogre, doesn't mean you have to eat like one." said Queen Lillian.

"Jeez, this is just _not_ Shrek's day," Lionel winced. "Starting off bad, and getting worse."

"Boy, does that sound familiar." Cherry mumbled to herself.

"It does?" Atticus asked.

"Atticus... How can you claim to be so smart and yet be so dense at reading social cues?" Cherry narrowed her eyes. "And you think I'm bad at that."

"S-Sorry, Cherry..." Atticus winced. "Uh, I'm sure once we sit down and have some cake, Shrek will be in a better mood."

"Yeah, I doubt it," Lionel replied. "Things are gonna get worse, without getting better."

"Like a major blizzard." Cherry muttered.

"Looks like you forgot the candles." A woman told Shrek in a masculine voice.

"Who's that?" Atticus wondered.

"Cinderella's other step-sister, Mabel." Fiona told him.

The Big Bad Wolf was then shown to be huffing and puffing and blowing into some balloons before they suddenly popped as Shrek flinched from the popping.

"Okay, watch the cake; I'll go get them." Fiona then told her husband as she went to get some candles.

"'Watch the cake'?" Shrek repeated, sounding confused before he suddenly cried out as he only saw crumbs left behind. "Where's the cake?!"

Cherry gave a suspecting look at Thor and Patch who just shook their heads at her, telling her that they didn't do it. Suddenly, Shrek turned around and saw the three Pigs behind him.

"We ate ze cake." said Heimlich, frosting on his face.

Dieter nodded. "Ja."

"What?" asked Shrek, before the triplets began crying. "No, no. Don't cry, shhh!"

"And so things are getting worse," Lionel sighed. "Maybe I oughta replace the cake."

"Well, by all means, do try," Cherry said to him before glaring. "Otherwise I'm gonna have a helping of some bacon, pork chops, or a nice roast~"

The three little pigs gulped and stepped away from her out of fear.

"Hey! I believe you promised my son a roar." Butterpants's father called to the ogre.

"Do the roar." Butterpants demanded.

"Uh... Roar?" Shrek shrugged as he didn't even try.

"Don't like it." Butterpants firmly pouted.

"Alright," Lionel replied. "Cake time!" He cracked his knuckles and created a second cake.

"One roar, man!" Butterpants's father told Shrek.

"Hey, everybody!" Donkey called out to everybody. "Shrek's gonna do his famous ogre roar!"

The Dronkeys began to look very excited to see and hear this for themselves. The triplets continued to cry.

"Oh, please, don't cry," Mo told the triplets. "Uncle Lionel's making a brand new cake for you right now, dears."

"Yeah!" Lionel replied. "And now for the candles!" He conjured a candle for each triplet, and lit them one by one.

The triplets soon settled down just a little bit.

"There... Major crisis averted..." Atticus smiled in relief once Lionel had saved the day.

"Shrek, what's going on?" Fiona asked as she came to hold the kids.

Butterpants was hugging Donkey. "Come on, Shrek, your fans are waiting!" said Donkey.

"Do the roar." The kid said again.

Things only seemed to get more and more frantic, as Shrek was getting close to losing his temper.

"We need the cake!" chanted the crowd. "Cake! Cake! Cake!"

* * *

Just when it seemed that Shrek was about to lose his cool, Lionel made a foghorn noise to get everyone's attention. "Somebody call for a birthday cake?" he asked, presenting the newly prepared cake.

Everyone beamed in excitement once they saw the cake.

"You better be full." Cherry warned the three pigs.

"Ve are." The three pigs gulped nervously.

"All right, kiddies, let's get you that cake, huh?" Mo cooed to the triplets.

The cake was soon set down and the candles were lit as it looked like it was going to be a Happy Birthday after all.

"Alright, I was worried for a minute there," Lionel wiped his brow. "But luckily it's been easily fixed."

"Yeah... So... Happy Birthday!" Cherry soon told the triplets, mustering enough energy as possible to sound cheerful, though she sound more or less rather forced.

"...Thanks, Lionel." Shrek said, though he still didn't sound like he was all there due to a bunch of stress.

"It's no problem, Shrek," Lionel replied. "I get it; today is super-hectic, and you were about to lose your cool cuz of all this pressure being put on you. I can honestly say that you and my friend Cherry are in similar predicaments, and it just feels like almost nobody's paying attention to how YOU feel."

"Oh, like your life is so hard," Shrek said to Cherry. "You're a teenager. You're in the prime of your life. What do you have to worry about?"

"I'm not an ordinary teenager," Cherry replied firmly. "I'm a Dream Walker, an adventurer, a student, a babysitter... I have millions of responsibilities and I already get exhausted as soon as I leave the school bus and I have to go on ahead and go somewhere," she then explained. "I might not be an ogre who had his life turned around because I saved a princess that some Napoleon short stack was gonna marry just to become a king and I met a talking animal who sings a lot of songs that won't even exist for another hundreds of years-"

"Hey!" Donkey pouted.

"My father-in-law might not be a frog... I might not have a family... But I know what stress does to a person," Cherry continued sharply to Shrek. "So yeah, I think I have a _lot_ to worry about, Shrek."

"...Well, I stand corrected," Shrek replied. "I guess, in a way, we ARE in the same boat."

"See, what'd I tell ya?" Lionel nodded.

"Let's just have some cake now before anything else happens." Shrek replied.

"Right," Cherry smirked. "You could blow your top off like you used to when you can't even scare babies anymore."

"Cherry..." Atticus scolded.

"You know what? That sounds like a good idea," Lionel interrupted. "Time to cut the cake! Who wants the first piece?"

"Alright..." Lionel replied as he got the knife ready to cut.

"Do the roar." Butterpants urged.

"Kinda busy here!" Shrek told him.

"Do the roar! C'mon, Shrek!" Donkey urged. "Everyone's waiting for it! Do the roar! C'mon, everybody! Do the roar! Do the roar!"

"Do the roar! Do the roar!" The crowd chanted as Lionel gulped nervously, knowing that things were about to get ugly.

"Oh, boy..." Cherry and Atticus both sighed as they sweat-dropped.

"Hit the deck!" Thor called out as he grabbed Lionel and fell to the floor with him suddenly.

Shrek couldn't hold it in any longer, so he let out an enormous, furious ogre roar that nearly blew everyone away, even Butterpants's hat and Mo's bandanna were blown off. " **RRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!** " Once he was done, he panted and everyone else was left stunned and silent for a bit until they all cheered.

"I love you, Daddy." Butterpants then beamed as he hugged his father.

"Well... Back to cutting the cake..." Lionel stated, getting his knife back out to do the deed.

"Shrek! Shrek! Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!" Most of the crowd began to chant.

Shrek soon slowly handed Felicia back over to Fiona.

"That has to feel better, right?" Cherry asked Shrek. "You let it all out."

"I'm just really tired of all of this." Shrek told her firmly.

"Yeah, you do look exhausted," Cherry nodded. "I can understand that."

"First slice, coming up." Lionel muttered as he began cutting a corner of the cake as Shrek turned to see the goofy-looking cake grinning back at him.

Shrek began to look annoyed at the cake.

"Shrek... Calm down..." Thor warned. "It's just a cake."

"Shrek... Are you okay?" Fiona asked out of concern for her husband.

Shrek then slammed his big fist into the cake's center, making everyone gasp in shock.

"Okay, that was a little uncalled for." Atticus said nervously.

"Well, he _did_ have a lot of stress to deal with," Lionel replied. "If anything, all he needs is some time to himself."

"Hopefully Fiona understands." Atticus remarked.

Thor nodded hopefully before he wiped some frosting off of his cheek and began to eat it, looking gleeful.

* * *

Shrek looked around the others and he soon suddenly stormed off after having a bit of frustration that had to be let out since no one gave him time to take a break. Atticus looked at the others and soon changed their forms into butterflies and went to go with them to keep an eye on Shrek to see where this would go.

"Unbelievable." Fiona groaned.

"Tell me about it!" Shrek replied. "Those villagers-"

"I'm not talking about the villagers, Shrek," Fiona retorted. "I'm talking about you. Is this really how you want to remember the kids' first birthday?"

"Oh, great. So this is all my fault?" Shrek groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, but you know what?" Fiona narrowed her eyes. "Let's talk about this after the party, at home."

"You mean that roadside attraction we live in?" Shrek scoffed as he grew mocking. "Step right up! See the dancing ogre! Don't worry! He won't bite!" He then took off the party hat, smashed it, and threw it to the ground. "I used to be an ogre. Now I'm just a Jolly Green Joke!" he then continued to rant.

"Okay, okay, maybe you're not the ogre you used to be, but maybe that's not such a bad thing." Fiona then said calmly.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," Shrek snorted. "It's not like you're a real ogre. You spent half your life in a palace."

The group winced as that was a bit too much.

"And the other half locked away in a tower." Fiona soon replied, sounding a bit solemn.

"Look, all I want is for things to go back to the way they used to be!" Shrek explained to her. "Back when villagers were afraid of me, and I could take a mud bath in peace. When I could do what I wanted, when I wanted to do it! Back when the world made sense!"

"You mean back before you rescued me from the Dragon's Keep?" Fiona asked sharply.

"Exactly!" Shrek nodded, though he regretted the way that sounded.

"Ooh, too much." Patch said nervously.

A long silence followed, before Fiona spoke quietly, feeling hurt. "Shrek, you have three beautiful children, a wife who loves you, friends who adore you... You have everything. Why is it the only person who can't see that is you?" And on that note, she then turned away and went back inside.

Shrek turned and then walked away, feeling bitter. "...That's just great." he groused to himself.

To make matters worse, the sky began to form rain clouds as though to make the situation more miserable and gloomy.

"Why does it always rain to make the situ-" Atticus was about to ask.

"STOP asking questions like that." Cherry squeezed her eyes shut.

"...I was just asking a question." Atticus replied.

"I know, just... Stop talking like that..." Cherry groaned.

Shrek soon began to storm off and out.

"I think Shrek has the right idea and I need some time to be alone." Cherry said to the others then.

"Well, okay," Lionel replied, handing her an umbrella. "Just... Don't do anything you might regret."

"You sure this is alright?" asked Atticus.

"So far, you've been batting zero-for-zero," Lionel told him. "And going to this party hasn't improved Cherry's mood any, so we might as well do the smart thing and give her some space."

"I'm trying to help, really," Atticus said softly. "It's part of my good nature... Even if I was hoped to become evil by a certain evil uncle in my life who won't leave me or my friends alone since he thinks friendship is a pointless distraction." he then added with a roll of his eyes.

"Well, I guess whenever Cherry is talking about something that basically ruined her day, say something besides 'yikes' or 'whoa'," Lionel replied. "My strategy is to comment on how awful the situations sound, and ask if there's anything I can do to help, since it shows I care."

"I do." Atticus said.

"Well, do it more often 'cuz clearly, it doesn't happen enough," Lionel advised. "You just make it sound like 'Oh, that's too bad, but whatever... Not like you can fix it'."

"I never intended for that to happen, but sometimes I don't know what to say, I guess..." Atticus said bashfully.

"You just better hope she comes back feeling somewhat better." Lionel nodded firmly.

Atticus nodded back as he looked out to the distance as Cherry walked off through the forest with Shrek.


	3. Chapter 3

"If she thinks I'm gonna slink back there and apologize, she's got another thing coming," Shrek groaned to himself as he stormed off into the forest, not knowing that Cherry wasn't too far away from behind him. "She's not the boss of me. I'm an ogre and I'm not gonna apologize for acting like one."

Cherry also strolled behind. "Stupid Drell... Stupid missions... Selfish, pigheaded know-it-all... How am I supposed to do every stupid thing myself?! I'm just one teenager! But he doesn't even care! Why am I not surprised?!" she groused. "All we are is a means to an end for him!"

"Cherry?" Shrek called. "Is that you?"

"At least somebody noticed." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"What're you doing out here all by yourself?" Shrek asked.

"Relax, Shrek, I'm fine," Cherry narrowed her eyes before taking out a spiked ball like a pepper spray metaphor for the 21st century. "I have mace."

Shrek chuckled lightly. "Heh... Not bad," he replied. "I guess we can both stay out of each other's way for a while."

"Yeah, I guess so." Cherry shrugged.

"Help, please!" A voice soon cried out in dismay. "Someone, anyone at all, help me! Please, help!"

"Someone's in trouble," Cherry rolled her eyes. "If it's a burning building or needs huge upper body strength, Atticus can just fly in and save the day like he always does cuz that just always has to happen when _he's_ around, doesn't it?"

Shrek soon looked around to see where the cries of help came from as someone appeared to be trapped underneath their carriage that seemed to be broken down.

"Please, help! I'm stuck!" The tiny man continued in a panic. "Help! Oh, please, help! Someone, anyone! Help me! The pain!"

Shrek rolled his eyes as he went over and used his strength to lift up the carriage.

"I can see a bright light," The man grunted weakly, looking a bit impish if you know what I mean. "A tunnel! Grandma? Is that you?" he then asked weakly like he was close to death.

"Yeah, it's Granny, and I'm Lucifer: The Prince of Darkness." Cherry remarked sardonically as she stood beside Shrek.

"An ogre!" The man exclaimed, scooting back in fright. "Please, Mr. Ogre, please don't eat me!"

Shrek rolled his eyes. "I'm not gonna eat you."

The short man looked confused. "But you a _re_ an ogre… Aren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, well, I… I used to be," said Shrek. "Look, move out or get crushed."

The short man quickly crawled away from the carriage, as Shrek set it back down on the ground and fixed the wheel. "So you're not gonna eat me?" he then asked Shrek, who was already walking away.

"No, thanks. I already had a big bowl of curly-toed weirdo for breakfast." Shrek replied.

Cherry snickered at that a bit.

"Come on, let's go." Shrek told Cherry as they went to walk off together.

"Wait up!" The short man cried out, trying to stop them. "What's your rush? Where you going?"

"Nowhere." The two replied to him.

"What a coincidence! I was just heading that way myself, but, seriously, let me give you a ride," The short man grinned innocently. "I insist. Come on. It's the least I can do after all you've done for me."

Shrek rolled his eyes, though he stopped moving.

"I got a hot rat cooking," The short man offered. "And perhaps you'd like some tea and cookies, dearie?" he then asked Cherry.

"What kind of cookies?" Cherry narrowed her eyes.

"Perhaps some chocolate chip?" The short man asked. "They're very melty and gooey."

Cherry groaned and shuddered, suddenly hungry before groaning and shaking her head. "All right, let's humor the little troll." she then said to Shrek.

* * *

**_SHORTLY..._ **

Shrek and Cherry were on board the carriage, being pulled by the goose.

"All right! Can I interest you in a mudslide?" asked the man. "Slug and tonic? A liquid libation to ease that frustration? ...Eyeball-tini?" he held up a drink.

Cherry grimaced slightly at the offerings that mostly appealed to Shrek, though she enjoyed her gooey chocolate chip cookies very much.

"Well... Maybe just one." Shrek decided.

Eventually, as they began to ride off, it started to pour down rain as the very large and sort of scary looking goose began to pull the carriage as Cherry and Shrek were taken for a ride by their new friend, though Shrek had more than one eyeball-tini as he traded jokes with the man as they bonded.

"So the centaur says, "That's not the half I'm talking about'!" Shrek replied as they chuckled.

"I gotta say, Shrek, I envy you. To live the life of an ogre. No worries, no responsibilities," The man said, taking a sip of his eyeball-tini. "You are free to pillage and terrorize as you please."

"Free?" Shrek chuckled as he rolled his eyes. "That's a laugh."

"Oh, yeah?" The man asked.

Shrek sighed. "Sometimes I wish I had just one day to feel like a real ogre again." he replied with a nod.

"Yeah... And sometimes I wish I could take a break from my crazy misadventures with my friends." Cherry remarked.

"Crazy misadventures, you say?" The man smirked a little.

"Yeah... It's some sort of weird 'Chosen One' mumbo jumbo," Cherry replied. "I get sent to all sorts of crazy places and timelines where I meet some new friends and help them with their own adventures."

"That's even how I met her." Shrek added with a nod.

"Why didn't you say so?" The man replied before he stood up in his chair suddenly and grabbed the empty glasses and the teacup he had given Cherry to put them away since they were done. "Magical transactions are my specialty! Come on!

"Great. Next to mimes, magicians are my favorite people." Shrek stated.

"Hold on," The man said as he started rummaging through his deal scrolls. "'King for a Month', 'Knight for a Week'... Ah!" He then laid out one special contract onto the table. "Ogre for a Day!"

Shrek was even more puzzled than ever as the short man then appeared right next to him.

"Think about it, Shrek. To be feared and hated. You'll be, like, 'Roar!' And the villagers will be, like, 'Get away! It's Shrek! I'm so scared of him'!" The man continued. "It would be just like the good old days, when your swamp was your castle. When the world made sense."

"Well... That is something that you want..." Cherry said to the ogre. "You gonna be a Disney Princess and sing about how much you want more?"

"It does sound promising," Shrek agreed with her, though he felt a little suspicious. "All right, what's the catch?"

"Catch? No. There's no catch. No catchings, really," The short man insisted before facing Cherry. "And you, dearie."

"Me?" Cherry blinked.

"Perhaps I could work something out for you as well." The man suggested with a small smile.

"Hmm... I'm gonna see how this one plays out first." Cherry shrugged.

"You're sure? All right..." The man smirked. "I'll try not to pry."

"See that you don't," Cherry replied. "So, what do you want from Shrek out of this?"

"Well... There _is_ a small thing," The man had to admit. "Nothing. A little thing."

"All right, I knew it," Shrek remarked. "So what do you want?"

"A day." The man replied calmly.

"A day?" Shrek and Cherry asked out of doubt as a dinging sound was heard.

"Oh, rat's done!" The man smiled as he put on a pair of oven mitts and soon opened up the stove to take out some cooked weed-rat for Shrek. "Well, to make the magic work, you gotta give something to get something. In this case, Shrek, you gotta give a day to get a day. That's all."

"I can't just pick up and leave my family." Shrek told the man.

"Oh, but that's the best part, Shrek! It's a magical contract," The man defended as he smiled innocently. "No one will even know you're gone, and by the time this day is up, you are gonna feel like a changed ogre."

"Still, I don't know." Shrek shrugged.

"Pffft! Hey, no problem. Forget it, no big D. It doesn't matter," The man replied as he began to pour sauce over the rat for the ogre to eat. "Do you like white meat or dark meat?"

Shrek began to pause thoughtfully about this deal.

"What day does he have to give up?" Cherry asked. "This sounds way too huge and important to simply ignore."

"You're very smart, dearie, but I don't know, any day," The man replied innocently as he began to carve the rat like a Thanksgiving turkey. "A day from your past. A day you had the flu? A day you lost a pet?"

"...I guess that couldn't be too bad..." Cherry shrugged for Shrek's sake.

"How about when I met Donkey?" Shrek laughed. "Now that's a day I'd like to forget!" He and the man laughed.

"...I have no idea who that is!" The man stated in mid-laugh.

"Oh, come on, Shrek, you care about Donkey." Cherry replied.

"You ever wanna forget the day you met Atticus?" Shrek asked.

"Well... Sometimes..." Cherry shrugged bashfully before she started to laugh. "Though his big head's pretty hard to miss."

"I know. What about a day you wouldn't even remember?" The man soon suggested to Shrek before he stood up and rocked his arms back and forth like he was rocking a baby as an example. "Like a day when you were a baby. An innocent, mindless little baby."

"That's... Oddly specific, sir..." Cherry said to the impish man.

"Merely a suggestion." The man replied.

"Take any of those days you want," said Shrek as he ate the rest of the swamp rat. "Take them all for all I care."

The man glared. "Oh, just one will do," he replied, as he got out an ink jar and feather pen, dipped the pen into said jar, with a small magic spark appearing. "Okay, good. A day from your childhood it is."

Shrek shrugged. "I guess there's nothing wrong with wanting a little time for myself."

"Just 24 tiny little hours."

"I'm still my own ogre!"

"Yeah, you is!"

"I never needed to ask for anyone's permission before."

"So why start now?"

Shrek looked down at the contract and briefly back at Cherry who just shrugged as she didn't think any harm would come from it.

"Go on, Shrek. Sign it!" The man urged as he handed out a quill to the ogre after presenting the contract. "Go on, Shrek. Sign it, Shrek! Sign it!"

The goose from outside soon began to honk a few times.

"...That goose is freaking me out." Cherry grimaced and shuddered.

"She won't hurt you, dearie~" The man smirked at her.

Shrek soon signed his name and it began to glow after the deal was struck.

"Oh..." said the man. "You signed it."

"So, tell me," Shrek asked. "What happens now?"

"Have a nice day." The man replied darkly, as he began laughing evilly, before vanishing in a flash of light.

"What?" Cherry asked with wide eyes as she suddenly got edgy from that.

Suddenly, everything began to disappear as it looked like everything else was disappearing, though both Cherry and Shrek were sent through some sort of yellow cyclone with the carriage disappeared and they both ended up in the middle of a sunny and happy-looking forest and they both suddenly crashed in the middle of the ground, groaning in slight pain.

* * *

"I think I fell on my keys." Shrek groaned.

"I think I can taste my spine." Cherry added.

As the contract floated down, Shrek picked it up as he saw the Star Tours chariot coming his way.

"There are 40 children in that shoe, which is why the weasel goes pop to this very day." said the tour guide.

Shrek rolled his eyes. "Oh, great..."

"As we head over the river and through the woods, we come across…" The tour guide began, before one of the tourists saw Shrek. "OGRE! AND HE'S GOT A GIRL CAPTURED!"

The driver freaked out as he crashed the chariot into a tree and the passengers all ran for their lives.

"...The frack?" Cherry blinked slowly.

Shrek was surprised and alarmed at their fear, but he soon took out the contract as he remembered the deal and soon grinned happily with a laugh as he kissed it and suddenly bear-hugged Cherry.

"Ow! Whoa! Hey!" Cherry yelped as her legs flailed while her arms were forced down from the hug.

"Don't you see? It worked!" Shrek told her as he held her out. "People are afraid of me again!"

"Yeah, that's great..." Cherry groaned from the touching. "Mind putting me down while you enjoy it all?"

Shrek soon set her back down on the ground and soon ran off in excitement as he felt like he was on top of the world.

"Well, glad he's having fun." Cherry replied.

And so, Shrek did have a lot of fun. Cherry looked around, wondering what to do before shrugging as she decided to just take a nap as Shrek spent the day terrorizing people like he used to long before he met Donkey, Fiona, as well as Cherry and the others as it was the best time ever for him. Once Cherry fell asleep, she napped a lot longer than she expected and it was the best sleep she had in years. Not to mention, Dream Walking didn't seem to even crop up before she soon woke up.

* * *

"*yawwwn* Mm... I haven't slept that good since... Before Atticus and I got adopted..." Cherry said as she yawned and stretched before she got up. "I wonder who that strange little man was? Whoever he was, I'll have to thank him later."

"Sure is great to be wanted again," Shrek smiled as he walked around the forest as he saw wanted posters of himself all over the place. "Oh, nice one."

"Huh... This one kinda looks like Fiona." Cherry said as she saw one poster that had a female ogre on it with fiery red hair. Then she saw more and more wanted posters on the trees, even a few pinned on with knives and axes.

"Fiona...?" Shrek muttered, sounding a bit nervy and wary. "Oh, no..."

"We better get moving," Cherry suggested. "I don't like the looks of this."

Shrek and Cherry soon ran off, finding more and more posters as the ogre's heart began to pound as this just looked horrible right now before they made it into the swamp... Or at least where Shrek's home would have been. There were no doors or windows at Shrek's home, or rather, his now former home.

"My home... Fiona!" Shrek soon cried out as he ran over to his former home and pounded on the walls, though it seemed like there was no use in getting in. "Fiona! Are you in there?!"

"What did that little guy _do_?" Cherry asked. "This can't be happening."

Shrek then pounded his way through the soil structure, making a hole that he fell through. When he got a better look, he saw that the place was completely deserted and abandoned. "All right, Rumple! This wasn't part of the deal!" yelled the ogre.

"Rumple?" Cherry asked. "You don't mean...?"

"Rumple!" Shrek shouted furiously, ignoring Cherry's question.

But no one came... Shrek then dug in his shirt and pulled out the folded-up contract that he unfolded, and thought to have a better look at it. WHOOSH!

"What was that?" Cherry asked as she looked around. "It sounded like a whooshing sound."

"OGRE!" A voice called from up above.

Cherry and Shrek looked up in confusion to see a group of witches on broomsticks, two of which looked very familiar, though they were a bit more evil and wicked looking.

"...Hilda and Zelda?" Cherry muttered.

"We've got another one, ladies!" Zelda told the other witches with a smirk. "Get him!"

The witches all cackled as they dove in, flying in a circle around the swamp.

"Who are you?!" Shrek shouted. "What are you doing in my swamp?"

One witch came swooping right at him, but he grabbed her broom, and she ended up yelling in alarm as she came crashing towards a tree.

"Looks like a troublemaker!" Hilda called.

She got out an apple, used her teeth to pluck out the stem like a grenade pin and chucked it towards Shrek's feet, to his and Cherry's confusions. Then the apple started spinning around like mad releasing smoke from it, and when smoke clouded the spot where Shrek was, he coughed as he tried waving the smoke away. Then one chain with an iron skull was swung and ensnared Shrek by the arm. The witches continued cackling as another witch tossed another chain with a chattering skull to ensnare Shrek by the ankle, and one more chain grabbed Shrek by the second ankle. Cherry winced and grimaced as she stepped back, feeling nervous for Shrek.

"Do something!" Shrek cried out.

"All right, witches, you want a magic duel? Let's have a magic duel!" Cherry challenged.

The witches looked at each other before laughing at her.

"I'd say don't make us laugh, dear, but I'm afraid you're just a laughing stock at the moment!" Hilda smirked.

"Witches on your broomsticks, fly, fly, fly, But you won't catch us vanishing if you try!" Cherry recited a spell as she put her hands above her head, wiggling her fingers.

But then... Nothing happened as the witches looked at each other before they cackled mockingly.

"Good try, dear, it really was a nice spell," Zelda smirked as she flew by in front of the perky goth. "Unfortunately, you're not really our type."

"And I thought old Tim Brichazac was bad," Hilda agreed with her sister. "Anyway, we'll take this ogre to go and we'll see you later."

The Spellman sisters soon laughed in her face as Cherry began to feel hurt and betrayed since she looked up to them, especially whenever hanging out at their house with Sabrina and Salem. She also felt confused that her spell didn't work since she was studying magic like her grandmother had used to.

"Spread 'em!" One witch soon called out as they went back to tormenting Shrek.

Shrek yelped as he was pulled by the chains and lifted up in the air by the witches taking him away. He screamed as he was pulled up, and hit a part of what would have been the roof of his home along the way out. The witches cackled some more as they carried their prisoner off.

"Good job, ladies," Hilda and Zelda laughed as they trapped Cherry in a magic bubble.

Shrek managed to break off the chain carrying his arm, forcing him to drop to the ground, but was still being dragged by the chains carrying his legs, grunting as he hit the ground before the witches managed to pull him back up in the air.

"You witches are making a big mistake!" Shrek shouted. "I know my rights!"

"You have the right to shut your mouth!" One witch retorted as she threw another apple at him.

"Let him go and let me out of here!" Cherry demanded as she tried to get out of the bubble.

"Nah, I don't think we will." Hilda smirked.

"Let's go, dear sister." Zelda smirked back.

Shrek was soon knocked out as the witches went to take him away.

* * *

"I gotta get out of this," Cherry groaned as she was stuck. "So that twisted little imp was Rumplestiltskin... Somehow I should've seen that coming."

"You made a deal with Rumplestilskin?" asked a nervous voice. "Ooooh, that's not a smart idea, no sir..."

"Huh?" Cherry asked. "Who's there?" She noticed a small, disheveled, emaciated-looking boy sitting nearby. "...Do I know you?" she asked as she came to take a closer look at him. When she got closer, she did a double-take.

"...Lionel?" she asked.

"That... Not my name..." The boy whimpered. "Never had name... Please not hurt me!"

"Hey, hey, easy, little guy, I'm not gonna hurt ya..." Cherry said to him.

"R-R-Right, then you say that and then gonna mess with me, huh?" The boy huffed and shivered. "Been through that nightmare plenty of times!"

"Lionel, it's me," Cherry told him as she came to sit down next to him. "You don't remember me?"

"N-No, but you all the same!" The boy cried as he scooched away from her. "J-J-Just gonna pretend to be my f-f-friend and then gonna betray and hurt me!"

"He doesn't remember me... Hilda and Zelda didn't know me and were wicked witches... And I had no magic..." Cherry said to herself. "Did I somehow sell away my life to that twisted little imp or something?"

"That what happen when you make deal with Rumplestilskin!" The boy replied. "He take away day from life... Like day you were born!"

"You know about that?" Cherry asked the boy, trying to comfort him and get him to understand. "You do that a lot... You know a lot about what happens to others... Because you've watched me for years before you left your home to be my friend and ally," she then urged him. "Lionel, you've got to remember... You're not meant to be like this."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Not know any Lionel, but even if I did... He not exist in this world!" he remarked.

"This is bad..." Cherry said as she put her hand to her head before sighing. "Whatever... From now on your name is Lionel Schwartz," she then told him as she crossed her arms. "And you are going to help me make things right where Rumplestiltskin screwed me up and possibly Shrek too."

"But... How do I do that?" Lionel asked.

"I... Don't know... But we can figure something out," Cherry said to him. "You just have to trust me."

Lionel looked apprehensive, but then reached a hand out to Cherry in response.

Cherry soon held out her hand to him and held his hand before helping him up to his feet. "There, there, it's okay," she then said. "We'll get through this and help our friends." she then added before gasping.

"What?" Lionel asked from her gasp.

"If you're here... Then that means everyone else has to be, right?" Cherry replied. "Shrek might see his friends around here... And I should be able to too, right? Especially since Hilda and Zelda are here."

"Maybe..." Lionel groaned as he clutched his head. "...But in this reality, they're not exactly friends."

"Surely we can work something out." Cherry said before they went to take off.

"If you say so..." Lionel said as he followed her.


	4. Chapter 4

Shrek groaned as he was asleep before he soon woke up and heard a familiar singing voice.

"Just thinking about tomorrow, Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow, 'Til there's none, When I'm stuck with a day, That's gray, And lonely~"

"Donkey, stop with the singing, will you?" Shrek groaned before he opened up his eyes in realization.

"I just stick out my chin, And grin, And say~" Donkey continued to sing, not really listening to the ogre.

"Donkey!" Shrek called out before he hit his head on the ceiling and groaned as he realized he was being pulled in a cage with wheels.

"Oh, the sun'll come out tomorrow So you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow~," Donkey continued to sing, pulling the carriage that Shrek was inside of. "Come what may, Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow!~"

"Donkey, where am I? What's happening?" asked Shrek.

One of the witches driving the cart banged on the cage. "Quiet down there! Oh, I hate this song." she grumbled before she whipped Donkey, making him yelp as he sang a different song.

"But I made up my mind; I'm keeping my baby, Ooooh~" Donkey sang.

"Yeah, I'm driving, so I'm in charge of the music." snapped the other witch, who took the whip and gave the donkey another lash.

"Will you witches make up your mind?" asked Donkey, but he got lashed again. "No matter what they take from me~"

Cherry and Lionel began to secretly sneak along as they found Shrek and Donkey, but it didn't look good. The second witch grinned, apparently liking the song as she nudged her partner, who also liked the song. They even started to sing along.

"They can't take away my dignity, Because the greatest love of all~" Donkey and the witches sang together.

"Donkey? What's going on?" Shrek quietly asked his ex-best friend. "Do you know where Fiona is?"

"Quiet, Ogre! You're gonna get me in trouble and I need this job!" Donkey hissed quietly. "I am not going back to work for Old MacDonald. Tell me to E-I-E-I-O. 'E-I-E-I- _No_!' That's what I said."

"Where are my babies?" Shrek asked him. "And where's your wife, Dragon? Have you also seen Cherry's friends?"

"Look, I think you have me confused with some other talking donkey," Donkey rolled his eyes. "I've never seen you before in my life."

"Never seen me before?" Shrek repeated, puzzled. "Come on, Donkey!"

"And how do you know my name anyway?" Donkey then asked.

"It's me, Shrek. Your best friend?" Shrek reminded.

"A donkey and an ogre friends?" Donkey scoffed. "That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard! Next thing you know, you're gonna tell me that stuffed donkey Eeyore is my cousin because that totally makes sense!"

"So this ogre hangs around a donkey?" Lionel asked Cherry.

"It's a long story," Cherry replied. "I just need to figure out a way to help save Shrek without using magic."

"I might have some," Lionel replied. "But I'm not fully sure of that."

"Well, do you wanna at least try?" Cherry suggested.

"Well... Okay," Lionel nodded. "If you think I could." So he tried to concentrate before a small spark of bright blue energy formed in his hands.

Cherry bit her lip as she felt a lot of anticipation filling the air as well as tension.

"Can you at least tell me where they're taking me?" Shrek asked Donkey.

"To the same place they take every ogre," Donkey rolled his eyes like it was obvious. "To Rumplestiltskin."

"Stiltskin!" Shrek gasped.

"I said 'quiet'!" The first witch glared as the second witch whipped Donkey again.

"Hit me with your best shot, Why don't you hit me with your best shot?~" Donkey soon began to sing as the lashes were lashed out, as if the witch was taking the lyrics literally. "Hit me with your best shot~"

Shrek then pounded the cage angrily as he saw something definitely different. "Oh, no." The ogre groaned in dismay as Far, Far Away was nearly destroyed after he failed to get out of the cage.

"Fire away!~" Donkey continued.

As Donkey pulled the cage through the village, Shrek looked on in disgust at how different Far, Far Away was in this alternate universe. The villagers were all scrounging for something or living miserably.

"It's time to crumble! Place your bets! Place your bets!" called the Muffin Man. 

Shrek turned to see a small crowd gathered around a small makeshift arena, placing bets, with the Muffin Man holding a spatula with a certain gingerbread man. 

"We start tout de suite!" The Muffin Man continued.

Gingy sprung up, but now he had battle scars and he held up a big lollipop as his weapon. He gave a furious battlecry, leaping down into the small arena while breaking his lollipop to give it sharp edges.

"Gingy...?" asked Shrek, surprised at how ferocious the cookie was acting.

Out of three boxes poured an assortment of sentient animal crackers that charged at the gingerbread man, but he made short work of them as the spectators laughed and cheered.

One of the spectators turned and saw Shrek being pulled along inside the cage. "There's one! Disgusting, filthy ogre!" he shouted, and the crowd gathered around, shouting and jeering at him, pelting him with multiple objects.

It was clear at this point that Shrek wasn't happy with his wish anymore. Cherry and Lionel followed behind, trying to avoid being seen as this Far, Far Away was truly a horrific and nightmarish sight. All the villagers gathered around with nasty scowls, shouting and jeering at the ogre prisoner.

"Hideous monster!"

"Filthy, filthy creature!"

"Disgusting creature!"

The villagers chanted and one chucked an overripe tomato at Shrek's face, with Shrek wiping it off. The villagers continued shouting nasty remarks towards Shrek as the cage pulled onward. One villager even chucked a glass bottle at the cage. Cherry and Lionel followed close behind and tried to not be noticed otherwise, that would probably foil any future plans. The witches, Cherry, Lionel, Shrek, and Donkey soon made it to the castle, which was now guarded by witches about every nook and cranny, and there was a shield with an "R" on the front of the gates, which went up. As they went inside, Shrek was in horror to see how different the castle grounds looked, and he passed something he definitely hadn't seen before: two ogres pushing the gear that controls the gates. The two ogres were miserable because they were being forced to by another witch with a whip.

"Move it!" Zelda glared as she whipped one of the ogres as she cackled evilly.

"Zelda!" Cherry gasped at the frightful sight of a smart, mature, and maternal witch woman like Zelda Spellman being heinous and vile.

The gate then closed as the carriage headed to the main hall and stopped right at the door. Once there, the cage's door was opened, Shrek was let out but placed in hand-cuffs and shackles around his neck, which were connected to sticks held by four more witches, as they lead the prisoner to the doors.

"Don't worry, Donkey. I'll get us our lives back." Shrek quietly promised Donkey.

"Yeah, right," Donkey scoffed. "Put a little mustard on mine, Captain Crazy!"

"I gotta get in there somehow and confront that twisted little imp, but how...?" Cherry asked herself as she put her hand to her head. "Think, Cher Bear, think."

Lionel was still trying to concentrate, but for some reason his mind was being bombarded with further memories of this girl he was stuck with. He had never experienced these memories himself, but somehow he remembered them.

"Are you okay?" Cherry asked Lionel since he seemed sort of stuck.

"Uh... I think so, Cherry..." Lionel grunted as his head throbbed. "But I'm getting these weird memories... I think they're from your world..."

"What?! You really think so?" Cherry asked with a bit of a gasp.

"Y-Yeah!" Lionel replied. "I didn't have any of those until... Until you touched me earlier..."

Cherry blinked before looking at her hand and looked quite curious. The witches continued to mock Shrek as Cherry and Lionel went back to following as they came to see the new man in charge. Shrek glanced at his surroundings, and saw the Three Little Pigs in servant clothes feeding Fifi some ham. She pecked at it a bit, before scarfing it all down. He glanced at another corner with a witch band playing the rave music with a pumpkin drum, a broomstick bass, a skull xylophone which made synthisizer music, and a huge brewing cauldron. As the rest of the witches continued dancing and shouting with glee, the witches that held Shrek prisoner kept leading Shrek across the ballroom. At this time, at a small corner lined with red VIP ropes in front, a certain deal maker was in a couch-styled throne (with the ruler's seat being in the middle), wearing fancy white clothes, laughing and having drinks with four more witches.

"Thor?" Cherry whispered as she spotted a pudgy looking boy who seemed familiar.

"Mr. Stiltskin? You got another customer." The boy called to the imp who was sipping a drink as he had another customer who was a certain boy puppet.

"Thank you, my boy, I suppose you are useful to me after all," Rumple smirked to him before looking over to the Big Bad Wolf who was now dressed like a maid. "Wolfie!"

"Yes, Mr. Stiltskin?" The wolf replied.

"Bring me my business wig." Rumple demanded.

"Mr. Stiltskin, please!" Pinocchio pleaded.

"Abupupup!" Rumple interrupted him before he was given a Victorian-styled white powdered wig. "Okay, go!" he then allowed the puppet.

"Please make me a real boy!" Pinocchio pleaded.

Rumple soon took out a rolled up contract and smacked the wolf away. "Go away!" he told the wolf before grinning at the puppet. "Terms are in the details, balsa boy." He rolled out the contract, and pushed it, a quill and an ink jar towards the puppet, who was eagerly ready to sign.

"Sayonara, termites! Hello, acne!" Pinocchio beamed as he soon began to sign the contract.

But before he could get started...

"Stiltskin!" boomed Shrek, getting everyone's attention.

However, Rumple was more than delighted to see the ogre. "Shrek! There he is!" he beamed as he jumped onto the desk; as he walked over to him, he unknowingly knocked over the ink jar, spilling ink over the spot where Pinocchio signed half his name in cursive.

"So close!" the puppet groaned before he was grabbed by one of the witches and dragged away from the table, without Rumpelstiltskin caring to notice.

"Have I been waiting for you!" Rumple exclaimed cheerfully as he jumped off the table. "Ladies, this is the guy that made all of this possible!"

As they cheered wildly, the deal maker climbed up towards Shrek's ear, pulling on it and speaking into it. "So, tell me, how are you enjoying your day?" he asked.

"All right, Rumpel, what's going on?" asked Shrek. "What have you done?"

"No, Shrek, it's not what I've done. It's what YOU'VE done," Rumple replied as he jumped off Shrek's shoulder. "Thanks to you, the King and Queen signed their kingdom over to me!"

Shrek rolled his eyes. "They would never do that." he retorted.

The impish little man smirked. "They would if I promised them all their problems would disappear."

"What're you talking about?!" Cherry cried out, unable to hold that in.

The witches hissed once they spotted Cherry as she emerged from the crowd.

"Ah, hello, dearie, good to see you here too." Rumple smirked at her.

"Stop calling me 'Dearie'," Cherry narrowed her eyes before turning away with a cringe. "It gives me the willies."

"Maybe I should paint you both a little picture~" Rumple soon decided as a random flashback was shown.

* * *

_King Harold and Queen Lillian were soon seen visiting the deal maker to sign a contract to save their daughter, but this time, it had a different ending than of Shrek coming in to save Fiona like from the first adventure. They signed their names, and then suddenly the king and queen began turning gold, to their alarm and horror._

"And then _they_ disappeared!" Rumple's voice mocked with a wicked giggle.

_"Noooooooo!" The king and queen cried out as they began to disappear by exploding into gold dust, leaving only their crowns which dropped onto the table. The evil deal maker then took Harold's crown._

* * *

_**End of Flashback** _

Rumple held out the deceased king's crown, as Shrek realized he had tricked the king and queen into signing the kingdom and their lives over as he spun the crown around as he sighed. "They would have done anything if they thought it would end their daughter's curse." he then told both Cherry and Shrek.

"Then what happened to Lord Farquaad?" Shrek asked. "Also the Fairy Godmother?"

Rumple shrugged. "Mr. Step-Stool just kept sending knights after her, and they all got barbecued. So he just gave up. And the Fairy Godmother? Well, I had her gotten rid of and bought out her operation!" he explained.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about those two," Cherry shrugged nonchalantly. "Besides, Shrek ended Fiona's curse, along with me and my friends."

"Yeah!" Shrek added.

"How could you when you never existed?" Rumple taunted them both as he kicked the crown away.

"You better start making sense, you dirty little man!" Shrek demanded.

"Here, let me spell it out for you!" Rumple replied as he snatched the contract right out of Shrek's vest and showed off the fine print. "You gave me a day from your past, a day you couldn't even remember. A day when you were an innocent, mindless little baby." he then emphasized before he hummed "Happy Birthday" to clarify what had happened as horror dawned on Shrek's face.

"...You took away the day he was born." Cherry said with wide eyes.

"No, Dearie," Rumple smirked. "Shrek gave it to me."

"Seriously, stop that." Cherry glared.

"Enjoy this while you can, Stiltskin," declared Shrek. "because when this day is up…"

"Ahp-bap-bup!" Rumple stopped him. "But you haven't heard the best part," he snapped his fingers, and another witch brought over a huge magic hourglass to the table, representing the remaining hours in the day. "Since you were never born, once this day comes to an end, so will you!"

The witches laughed as Shrek saw the sand slipping through.

"Where's Fiona?" he asked. "Where's my family?"

"Silly little ogre. You don't get it, do you?" Rumple sneered. "You see, you were never born. You never met Fiona! Your kids don't exist!"

"It's a Wonderful Plot... Classic..." Cherry sighed sharply. "And what happened to Lionel? And the rest of my friends?"

"Well, I had to have a little fun, didn't I?" Rumple smirked at her.

"Don't tell me, you teamed up with King Sombra and now if I see Atticus, he's going to try to kill me on the spot?" Cherry guessed as she squeezed her eyes shut in frustration while sweat-dropping.

"What? No, that's dumb, not to mention boring. It's _been_ done!" Rumple replied, rolling his eyes. "I split up your friends and their memories have been wiped. Besides, this is MY glory; I'm not going to share it with some schmuck!"

"Well, I'll give you props for not going down that route." Cherry had to admit.

"Thank you, Dearie." Rumple smirked.

"But still, Shrek and I and when we find them all, our friends aren't going to stand for this," Cherry soon said firmly as she glared at the impish man. "You won't get away with this."

The witches soon began to laugh at Cherry and Shrek's misfortunes.

"How's that for a metaphysical paradox?!" Rumple laughed at them fiendishly. "Looks like you got exactly what you wanted! HAPPY OGRE DAY!" he then added mockingly.

"RUMPLE!" Shrek snapped and tried to lunge out at the impish man.

Rumple yelped in alarm as he stepped back before commanding his minions. "Get them, witches!" he then called out.

A witch fired a skull chain at Shrek, but he saw it coming this time, so he turned and blocked himself with the chains of his cuffs, just in time for the skull to reach him. The skull chomped the chains, breaking them. The witches screamed in alarm as Shrek then ripped the shackles off his neck, growling. Another witch flying on a broomstick was twirling a skull chain and firing it at Shrek, but he quickly grabbed it and gave it a yank, pulling the witch down to his level.

* * *

**_OUTSIDE..._ **

Donkey was speaking to two witches. "You know what'd help morale around here? Flip-flop Fridays," he explained. "Feet would be comfortable with the breeze on your toes..."

Then, without warning, the doors burst open and Shrek came flying through on the broomstick he took, rather clumsily. He knocked the two witches and Donkey down in the process. Shrek then yelped a bit as he rode a loop-de-loop. Donkey looked over the edge of the bridge he was on and saw Shrek spiraling downward before trying to ride the broom on the bottom story, though not doing very well.

"Come on, girls!" One witch told other four and they soon leapt off of the bridge while cackling madly as they took off on their own broomsticks.

Through the halls, Shrek still tried getting the hang of flying a broom as the pumpkin witch chucked pumpkin bombs at him, but he luckily dodged each one.

Back on the top story, Rumpel came out, angrily shoving one of the witches. "Lock all the doors, you worthless witches! Do it!" he then called out.

"This is crazy! I gotta find someone else I know!" Cherry called out as she took Lionel by his hand and ran with him so fast that his feet didn't even touch the ground anymore.

"Look, Hilda, it's our little chew toy." Zelda smirked with her sister.

"Maybe we should write in the skies 'Surrender, Little Girly'." Hilda smirked back before they both cackled like stereotypical wicked witches.

"Whoooooa!" Lionel yelped as he was being pulled behind like a dog-walker with a fast-moving canine.

Rumple soon saw Shrek flying up towards him with a stern look, making him yelp. As the ogre on the broom zoomed upward, the imp's wig briefly flew off his head from the impact.

Shrek soon grabbed Cherry and Lionel to come riding on the broomstick with him. "We'll be right back, Donkey!" he then called out as he zoomed off, trying to figure out how to shake the witches."

"I don't know you!" Donkey called back before looking at Rumple. "I don't know them!"

The witches pursued Shrek further, but when he came to the edge and saw a pole, he got an idea. Once he came to the pole, he swung around it and flew back, though in a rather lopsided manner. When the witches saw him swerving towards them, they all flew out of the way to avoid getting hit. Shrek then managed to get a better hold of the broom as he zoomed back to the bottom floor, dodging more incoming pumpkin bombs. He came back to the floor where Rumpelstiltskin and Donkey were, stopped the broom and glared at the foe.

"Glad I'm not you." said Donkey.

"Gee, thanks." Cherry deadpanned.

"No problem!" Donkey replied, a bit blind to her sarcasm.

Shrek then swooped in, but instead of going after the impish deal maker who stole his birth, he scooped up Donkey in one swipe and flew into another room.

"Help me! Help!" Donkey soon began to scream for help.

"Ugh! Can we get a real broom flying professional?!" Cherry cried out.

Shrek saw the skylight up above, and he smirked, getting an escape idea.

"Help!" Donkey continued to cry out.

With the witches still on the group's tail, Shrek swung around the golden chain of a massive mirror ball hung as the castle's centerpiece. Grabbing the chain, he began to twirl around the room while holding the chain, using the ball to smash everything in its path, with the witches all screaming as they ran to avoid getting crushed by the ball or its resulting debris. 

While this happened, Rumpelstiltskin could only watch helplessly. "No, not my pretty ball!" he wailed.

"Forget this!" Hilda remarked. "We've got to get our little underling back!"

"I couldn't agree more." Zelda nodded, as she and Hilda decided to make themselves scarce.

The other witches continued pursuing Shrek as he got closer to the skylight.

"Watch out!" he shouted, covering Donkey's eyes.

Lionel instinctively put his hands up, but then they began to flicker with blue energy. As they smashed through the skylight, Cherry and the others were surprised to see that there was a protective force field around them.

"Did it happen?" Cherry asked. "Are we dead?" she then took a look and gasped.

Lionel flinched with his eyes squeezed shut before one eye popped up with his hands up in the air.

"Lionel... You did it!" Cherry told him. "You helped us with your powers!"

"I... I did it?" Lionel asked. "Hey... I _did_ it! Whoo-hoo!"

"Good job." Cherry said to him with a very small, though still visible smile.

"All right, we're outta here!" Lionel said with glee.

They soon zoomed away right out of the castle.

"We'll come back for ya later, Thor!" Cherry called out.

Thor just looked up at her, feeling confused before shrugging.

"Wolfie? My angry wig." Rumple requested.

Hilda and Zelda soon walked away in worry while Wolf removed the business wig and replaced it with a new one, which was a tall, red, fiery wig and the carnivorous big dog walked away as well before the dictator breathed in anger.

"Get to work, you two." Rumple glared at the Spellman sisters.

Hilda and Zelda sighed before Hilda wore her French maid costume and Zelda wore her chef costume as they went to do their jobs in the castle which they had for a while in this alternate reality rather than being level-headed guardians to their niece who needed guidance in the world of magic and of course parental support.

* * *

**_MEANWHILE, AT THAT VERY MOMENT..._ **

The others were still escaping, but Donkey was freaking out.

"Help! I've been kidnapped by a deranged, unbalanced ogre and a couple of kids!" he screamed.

"Donkey! Get off of me!" Shrek grunted. "Watch it with your pointy hooves!"

After flying through several trees, they flew off, and crash-landed, with Lionel surprisingly catching Cherry on the way down.

"...This _does_ feel very familiar." Lionel noted.

"I'll say," Cherry replied. "I kinda expected to fall face-first on the ground."

"This sort of thing happens a lot?" Lionel guessed.

"I'm a little accident prone." Cherry replied.

"Just take my wallet!" Donkey panicked from Shrek.

"Hey!" Shrek called out, trying to get Donkey under control.

"I'm being ass-napped!" Donkey continued as he was anything but happy right now.

"Well, I bet a lot of kids are gonna copy that line." Cherry rolled her eyes at Donkey's exclamation.

As Donkey kept freaking out, Shrek had to cover his mouth. "You need to calm down! I'm your friend." he told him.

"My friend?" Donkey asked, muffled.

"We're not gonna hurt you, alright?" Lionel asked.

Donkey nodded, frightened.

"Good," said Shrek. "I'm gonna let go… Right... Now."

Once Shrek removed his hand, Donkey kept panicking. "Please! Eat my face last! Send my hooves to my mama!" he begged.

"Aaaaaand he's freaking out again." Lionel sighed.

"This is your typical, average Donkey... Especially after when I first met him," Cherry remarked. "Donkey, you've got to trust us."

"Why should I trust you?" Donkey glared at Shrek and Cherry.

"Because... Because..." Shrek tried to explain before he then thought of the only way to convince Donkey, but he shook his head, not believing he was about to do it before sighing sharply. "Okay..." he then got up and started to sing while dancing a bit, and wasn't particularly good at carrying a tune. "Winter, spring, summer, fall, All you got to do is call, And I'll be there, ye, ye, ye, You've got a friend~"

Donkey then got up, with his look of fear fading away, and he began to grin warmly. It looked like for a minute, Donkey recognized his best friend and was about to embrace him but instead, he ran away, screaming some more. The ogre was left dumbstruck.

"Fine! Go ahead! Run away! Who needs you?" Shrek snapped at his former best friend.

"Oh, Shrek..." Cherry said.

"No, let him go away..." Shrek said to her as he walked off, a bit miserably into the forest.

"...I wonder if that thing I did with you would work on Donkey?" Cherry soon said to Lionel, thinking of a possible solution.

"I suppose so," Lionel replied. "You'd need to reach into his mind, and tap into his memories to restore them. But maybe... If we combined our powers, we could do it together! ...I think."

"...All right," Cherry said as she looked at the bare palms of her hands. "Give me your hands and we'll try to see what happens, huh?"

Lionel nodded, his face red. "O-Okay ...Ready when you are..." he declared as he put out his hands.

Cherry soon took Lionel's hands suddenly.

"Now what?" Lionel asked.

"Channel and unleash the magic." Cherry advised.

Lionel nodded, as he and Cherry both began to concentrate, before blue and yellow energies began to emanate from their bodies, and they finally convalesced into a swirling aura around Cherry's hands.

"All right now..." Cherry said as she bounced the aura up and down like it was a ball. "Let's try to see if this can help Donkey."

"Man, are you kids still here?" Donkey complained.

"Donkey, please listen..." Cherry told him before she touched him with the aura to see if what worked with Lionel would work on him. "It's okay... We're friends... Please, remember."

"Whoa, I never gave you permission to be touchin' my head or no--" Donkey started before his eyes went blank, and brief moments of his memories started flashing before his eyes in rapid succession. Eventually, he shook his head and blinked. "Man... That must've been some party!" he exclaimed. "Oh, hey Shrek! How'd we get all the way out here?"

Shrek was holding onto Felicia's old squeaky toy before looking over. "Donkey... You remember me?" he then asked in surprise.

"Hay, yeah!" Donkey replied. "You're my best friend after all."

"What happened...?" Shrek asked before looking over. "...Cherry?"

"What can I say except 'You're welcome'?" Cherry smirked as she leaned up against a tree.

"So, what's going on?" Donkey asked.

"I was tricked into signing something I shouldn't have." Shrek sighed.

"You signed up for one of them time-shares, huh?" Donkey guessed.

"No. I signed this." Shrek said as he pulled out the contract.

Donkey gasped out of fear. "You should never sign a contract with Rumplestiltskin!" he then warned, but it was too late for that warning.

"Yeah, I got that." Shrek groaned.

"His fine print is crafty."

"I know."

"His exit clauses are sneaky."

"Yeah, I--" Shrek nodded until he noticed something. "What did you say?"

"I'm talking about the exit clause," Donkey explained. "Used to be, you had to guess his name, but now _everybody_ knows who Rumplestiltskin is."

"Somehow, he took away my life too," Cherry soon said. "But somehow... I got some magic that can help restore memories. Luckily I managed to do the same for Lionel as I did with you, Donkey."

Lionel nodded in response. "It might work for some of us, but it most likely won't work for Fiona or anyone else. It may work if we find Mo, Atticus or any of our other friends, but that's it." he replied.

"Donkey, I've read the fine print," Shrek said. "There's nothing about an exit clause in here."

"Well, you can't expect him to make it easy for you," Donkey explained as he grabbed the contract. "Here, lemme show you how it's done."

he set the paper down while beginning to fold it. "I didn't spend all that time around them witches without picking up a few tricks. Your tiny little ogre brain couldn't begin to comprehend the complexity of my polygonic foldability skills."

"What are you doing?" asked Shrek.

"Hey, I can't get my origami on unless you back off. Thank you." Donkey told the ogre.

Shrek rolled his eyes and sighed as Donkey continued folding.

"Okay, here's what you gotta do," Donkey continued. "You fold this piece here, make this letter match up here, bring this corner here, and if you do it just right, it will show you what to do."

As Shrek watched, he saw that words were beginning to form in the origami that Donkey was doing. Cherry and Lionel blinked a bit at what just happened with Donkey being Donkey.

"There!" Donkey smiled as he finished up and showed the others his finished work. "'Try Lou's Bliss'!"

"Yeeeeaaaah... No." Cherry blinked.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Donkey then said. "Who's Lou?"

"Give me that!" Shrek glared at Donkey before snatching the paper and did some folding himself, and then it showed a heart with the TRUE words of the exit clause. "'True Love's Kiss'."

"Hey, you have to take me to dinner first." Donkey denied.

Shrek rolled his eyes before reading the contract. "'According to Fairy Tale Law, if not fully satisfied, true love's kiss will render this contract null and void'," he read aloud before beaming. "Donkey, you did it!" He then picked Donkey up and hugged him, with Donkey struggling. "Look at you! If Fiona and I share true love's kiss, I will get my life back!"

"Okay! This isn't a petting zoo!" Donkey glared as he got down. "So, where would Fiona be right about now?" he then asked.

"Well, that's just it, you see," Shrek said to him. "I don't know."

"You know, when I lose something, I always try to retrace my steps," Donkey advised. "So, where did you leave her last?"

"The last time I saw her, I told her I wished I'd never rescued her," Shrek said before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh, no."

"Don't tell me we gotta go back to Duloc and see that Short Fuse again." Cherry groaned and face-palmed.

"Didn't you hear Rumple?" asked Shrek. "He gave up on her, so of course she wouldn't be there! We're gonna go back to the tower."

"Yeah, I know, I'm just not looking forward to going back there." Cherry replied.

"I understand... But we have to," Shrek told her. "Now suck it up."

"Yeah, I will," Cherry said as she heaved a sharp sigh. "This is probably gonna look all messed up."

They soon made it over to the dragon's keep. This time, there was no lava surrounding the castle. Shrek ran across the bridge, hoping to find Fiona.

"Well, at least we didn't have to sit through that annoying 'What's Up, Duloc?' song." Cherry said as she followed after.

"Hey, wait up, fellas!" Donkey called. "That's the Dragon's Keep! They keep dragons in there!"

"I thought you said you married one." Lionel stated.

"Well, she might not remember me!" Donkey replied, backing up. "And that magical memory stuff might not work for her! I'm gonna just hang back here and find us some breakfast!"

Lionel shrugged and flew himself and Cherry across the bridge. Shrek soon made it to the other side with them.

"All right, Fiona should be right here and in her... Ugh... Human form," Cherry said before shuddering. "Sorry, but I don't know why, I was never crazy about how she looked as a human, she looked so much better as an ogress."

"You're telling me." Shrek nodded in agreement.

* * *

The curtains and sheets were all ripped from where Fiona was originally deserted before Shrek found her and took her away from the dragon's keep, but there was also something behind the tapestry of a knight on a steed. He went over, pushing the tapestry aside, seeing markings on the stone wall. They were tallies of all the days Fiona has been locked in the tower. Shrek tore the tapestry off, and the whole wall was marked with tallies.

Shrek put his hand on the wall in regret, and then depressingly went over to the bed, and there he saw Fiona's princess tiara. "Oh, no..." he then sighed a bit before he picked up the tiara, sitting down on the bed and holding it in his hands. "If I didn't save Fiona... Then who did?"

"Based on my memory, Prince Charming," Cherry shrugged. "Though I guess he didn't do it this time either... Now what?" she then looked down and found a handkerchief. "...This looks familiar."

"Say, you're right," Shrek said as he took a look at it. "This is the favor Fiona was supposed to give me on the day we met."

Donkey and Lionel both looked surprised.

"It's a symbol of their love..." Cherry said before pushing the handkerchief in Donkey's face. "Okay, Patch's not here, so you smell this, Donkey!"

"Hey, man, get that dirty favor out of my face!" Donkey complained.

"Your nose is the only chance I have of tracking down my wife, so stop complaining and start smelling!" Shrek ordered as Cherry waved the handkerchief in front of Donkey. "Smell it! Get it! Away you go, girl!"

"Do I look like a bloodhound to you? In case you haven't noticed, I'm a donkey, not a dog!" snapped Donkey. "If I was a dog, they'd call me Dog, not Donkey! And another thing..." but then he began to sniff around. "Wait a minute. I think I got something...whatever it is, it's sweet."

Shrek beamed. "Fiona!"

"Luscious and tasty!" Donkey continued.

"I'm sure lots of guys thought that about Cameron Diaz at one point or another." Lionel smirked.

Shrek glared at Donkey. "Hey! That's my wife you're talking about!"

Donkey then abruptly rose his head up, and dashed off into the forest.

"Donkey!" yelled Shrek.

"Looks like we're on the move." Lionel declared.

"I guess at least it's something!" Cherry shrugged.

Donkey started sniffing the ground in the forest like a bloodhound, and to his surprise and happiness, he saw an unguarded plate of stacked waffles coated in syrup sitting on a stump. "Yeah! Waffles! And I thought the Waffle Fairy was just a bedtime story." he then beamed happily and excitedly as he rushed up to the plate. "Sticky stacks of golden, syrupy deliciousness!"

"Donkey, no, you shouldn't eat that!" Cherry called out. "Isn't this a little suspicious to you that there's a plate of waffles out in the middle of nowhere?"

Donkey only gave an "I don't know" kind of mumble before trying to take a little nibble of the waffles, but Shrek and Cherry kept protesting against it.

"Oh, you--" Shrek sighed as Donkey soon tried to nibble on the waffles. "I'm just... What are you...? Bad Donkey! Mustn't--I said, don't! Don't! No! Get away from it."

But Donkey extended his tongue out and licked the dripping syrup of the waffles.

"You did," Cherry face-palmed. "Donkey, this has to be a trap!"

Then, without warning, the plate flung the waffles onto a tree.

"Uh-oh..." Donkey muttered as he realized that Cherry had to had been right.

The stump flipped open like a lid and looked at the hole, rather confused because it didn't seem like an effective trap to him. However, that was not the full trap. The small group glanced around, seeing hidden pulleys and counterweights turning, and then a log came swinging out to the direction of the small group.

"Look out!" Shrek shouted as he ducked down with the kids; but Donkey didn't duck in time, so he got hit in the butt by the log, sending him into the hole. The ogre ran up to the hole, lifting the lid, seeing Donkey lying there.

"Donkey! Are you Okay?" Shrek called.

"I'm fine." Donkey replied, but then his hooves got snagged by a rope trap and he was yanked away, screaming.

"Donkey!" Cherry exclaimed as she and the others leapt into the hole and saw it led to a tunnel, and because it was too small to walk through, they had to crawl through it.

"Help! Help me!" Donkey shouted. "Help, Shrek! Help!"

"We're coming, Donkey! ...Somehow!" Cherry called out, though felt nervous and unsure. "Ugh... What to do?"

Shrek, Cherry, and Lionel soon came out through the other end, pushing the roots, and when getting up, they were awestruck at where they were.


	5. Chapter 5

It was some sort of hidden camp with ogres like Shrek roaming about, carrying stuff and doing chores. He wandered around in amazement, looking at the sights, making him grin a bit as Cherry and Lionel decided to hide for the time being. A blacksmith ogre was sharpening a tool and a female ogre was carrying an anvil of some sort. As Shrek kept wandering, two ogres carrying a log were coming from behind him.

"Watch your head." An ogre told him on the way.

Shrek then ducked, letting the two ogres lift the log over him.

Then three ogres, including a female one came around him.

"Hey, it's a new guy!" One of the ogres pointed out to Shrek.

"Look at him, all dressed up in his Sunday best." Another ogre added.

"He's really tiny, isn't he?" The female ogre smirked a bit.

"Yeah." One of the other two male ogres nodded in agreement.

"I guess these guys are the resistance fighters united against Rumple's tyrannical reign." Lionel noticed.

"So far I'm already rooting for them." Cherry remarked.

Then, a slender ogre taller than Shrek came behind our main ogre, putting his arm around him. "Fate has delivered us a comrade-in-arms and for that, we are thankful. Suit him up!" he soon announced.

The other ogres then took Shrek to get suited up.

"Let's go, Greenie." Another ogre told Shrek.

"Now, wait a minute!" Shrek warned, but he was suddenly placed on an armor vest, along with some wrist bands, and a helmet.

One ogre smacked him in the rear to get him going.

"Hey!" Shrek complained about that.

"Here you go." The tall and slender ogre said as he tossed an axe into Shrek's arms, which he luckily caught.

"That's an interesting look..." Cherry commented.

"Huh... Other humans that seem to be on our side... At least hopefully..." The tall and slender ogre said as he observed Cherry and Lionel.

"Other humans?" Cherry asked. "There are other humans here?"

"Yes, we have a human boy who came here to try to help make things right against the reign of Rumplestiltskin, we saw that he was strong and noble, so we let him join us," The tall and slender ogre explained with a nod. "I've never seen anyone like him."

"Strong and noble and wanting to make things right," Cherry remarked. "That sounds like Atticus Fudo to me."

"That's another for our little band," Lionel made a note. "We may as well go find him."

"Do you know where we might find him, sir?" Cherry asked the tall and slender ogre.

"Little lady, you may call me Brogan, and I'll take you right to him." The ogre replied.

Cherry and Lionel nodded as there was a training area shown as Atticus was getting big and strong the old-fashioned way: extreme exercise and hardcore training. Sort of like how Hercules had to earn his strength rather than be just handed it from Zeus.

"Somehow, I guess he took to this like a duck to water," Lionel shrugged. "Maybe we should wait a while before we restore his memories. He seems to be doing just fine."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Cherry replied. "Guess he just wants to step up from being bullied from when we were kids and being a bit of a 98-pound weakling... But still, I don't know where Fiona could be in this horrible alternate reality?"

"Well, maybe we'll find out." Lionel replied.

Atticus soon looked over. Cherry and Lionel looked back and waved at him.

"Intruders!" Atticus glared as he went to charge with a spear.

"Whoa! Wait!" Cherry yelped, jumping back and grabbed his arm, making him drop the spear and moved his arm firmly behind his back. "Calm down! Calm down!"

Atticus grunted and glared as he looked down at her.

"Easy, Nancy Boy... Easy..." Cherry told Atticus. "Listen, you don't know me, but we are not intruders."

"Look, we're on your side, Clyde!" Lionel replied as Atticus began to speak. "And I know that's not your name, so don't say that."

"Who sent you here?" Atticus narrowed his eyes.

"Some guy named Brogan?" Cherry replied. "He said we could come through here."

"Oh... Well, if Brogan says you're okay, then I guess that's okay with me too," Atticus replied. "...Now let me go."

Cherry then let go of him as he grunted a bit and stretched his arms out.

"You two seem like you're very far from home." Atticus said to them.

"Dude, you have _no_ idea." Cherry replied.

"In a way, that's true." Lionel nodded.

"Well, it's good to meet ya, I guess," Atticus shrugged. "Even if I don't know who you are."

"Well, I can help you remember." Cherry muttered to herself a bit.

"Welcome to the Resistance though," Atticus smiled as he put his arm around her to show her around. "We fight for freedom and ogres everywhere! I got lucky when I ended up here."

"Yeah, I guess you are." Cherry shrugged.

Brogan held his nose and started blowing a toot through his ears, and then, all the other ogres held their noses and blew through their ears.

"I didn't know we could do that..." Shrek said to himself.

"What does that sound mean, Atticus?" Cherry asked her ex-best friend.

"That means a feast has been brought to us and it's time to get ready to eat." Atticus replied.

"I could use a bite!" Lionel replied. "I don't get much to eat being an attendant/servant."

"All right then," Cherry added. "What's for dinner?"

"Hopefully something we can all agree on." Atticus smiled.

Suddenly, they all heard a certain donkey yelling for help, and they turned to see Donkey being carried upside-down by two ogres and tied to some sticks. "Help! You can't eat me! I got the mange!" he cried out. "I'm poisonous! I'm all poi--" But one of the ogres stuffed an apple in his mouth, resulting in Donkey to yell, muffled.

"I'll take him!" Shrek said, grabbing Donkey by the sticks. "This order's to go."

"Hey! I haven't removed his giblets yet." The chef ogre told Shrek, grabbing on the other side.

"Trust me, you don't want to eat this one." Shrek warned.

"I go down smooth, but come out fighting!" Donkey added after spitting the apple out of his mouth.

"For once... I might just choose to skip the first chance at a decent meal I've ever had." Lionel winced.

"Uh, well, um, you could, uh, always, um, I dunno, cook something." Cherry suggested to him.

"I can cook?" Lionel asked.

"Well, usually whenever I get hungry for a certain thing, you always know how to make it right in front of me," Cherry said. "Like if I run low on fuel during one of our adventures, you'll make me a bacon cheeseburger. Either that or Thor would make us one of his random sandwiches of the day."

"Oh! Um... Okay!" Lionel replied as he cracked his knuckles and concentrated again before snapping his fingers, conjuring up one of said cheeseburgers.

"Hey, it worked." Cherry said as she took the burger with glee.

"How did I do that?" Lionel asked her.

"Uh... I dunno," Cherry shrugged before she bit into the burger. "I guess you just think about it and it happens. I don't really know how your magic works."

"Huh... Alright," Lionel replied with a shrug before he tried again. "Maybe if I do it more, I'll get my memories back."

"That's what I'm hoping for." Cherry whispered to herself.

Then, a horn was sounded, stopping the fight and getting all ogres' and Donkey's attention.

"What was that?" Cherry then asked.

"They're back." Atticus alerted as he got in attention like the ogres.

* * *

Shrek turned and saw a figure arriving on the hill, who was clad with a helmet and armor and holding an axe in her hand. She removed her helmet and revealed to be none other than Fiona (in ogre form). She stood there, with the wind blowing her hair, giving it a dramatic flair. Beside her was a smaller figure, though one who was human as she removed her own helmet, showing long, flowing auburn hair with earth green eyes that was unmistakable.

"It's Mo!" Cherry gasped once she saw the human girl who was beside the ogress.

Atticus nodded. "Aye; she's a real fighter; maybe even better than I am." he grinned.

"She's one of our friends too!" Lionel beamed before turning to Cherry. "...Right?"

Cherry nodded.

"Oh, wonderful!" Lionel declared as he made himself some lasagna. "But maybe someone oughta give him the memo."

"What do you--" Cherry asked before she looked again and saw Shrek running up to Fiona to embrace her.

Of course, because Shrek didn't exist here, Fiona did not return his embrace. Instead, she lifted up her foot and kicked Shrek in the face, sending him flying in slow-motion, before crashing to the ground. The ogres winced while some couldn't help but chuckle a bit. The groaning Shrek got up as Fiona walked up, handing her axe to Gretchen, and her helmet to Brogan. "Maybe you missed orientation, but for future reference, personal space is very important to me." she then stated firmly.

Shrek then looked very worried. "...You don't know who I am, do you?" he asked.

"No," Fiona replied. "Brogan, I have news from Far Far Away. Gather the others and meet me in the war room."

* * *

 _"Maybe you should think before you make your next move."_ A voice told Shrek before he seemed to blackout.

"Huh? Who's there now?" Shrek grumbled.

"I guess you could call me an old friend." The voice said, getting stronger before Shrek looked around, blurry-eyed for a while as he found himself on some other plane of existence.

"So who exactly are you, anyways?" Shrek asked as he squinted at a mysterious shape coming into view.

"Well, think of it like this," said the voice as he came into focus. "I'm Shrek, but, I'm a Shrek who, unlike you, my green friend, never got the chance to be."

"So you never existed?" Shrek Prime asked.

"Nope," 90's Shrek replied, getting a sad, far-off look. "Fate, sadly, had a different plan in mind. It's way too late for me, but it's not too late for you."

"Uh... Thanks, I guess?" Shrek Prime said as he stood up.

"You could say that I'm from another reality of What Could Have Been." 90's Shrek said to him.

"I guess that explains why you sound different than I do," Shrek Prime shrugged. "I don't know what I'm going to do though.... Especially since I found Fiona, but she's not at all like I remember."

"Well, I guess try to take an interest in what she does, and take part in that." 90's Shrek replied. "Oh! But also, maybe learn about her interests first."

"Uh, well, I guess I could do that," Shrek Prime shrugged. "I do know Fiona pretty well. We've been married for quite a while now."

"Alright; good luck, buddy," 90's Shrek replied as he began to fade out. "Just remember: the Fiona here might not be like the one you're used to..."

And with that, Shrek snapped back to consciousness.

* * *

Our ogre friend wondered what his 90's counterpart, sounding like a once lovable and treasured cast member on a weekend evening sketch comedy series, meant by Fiona not being like the one he knew before he came to and remembered where he was.

"I think someone missed orientation, Fiona." Mo scoffed a bit, sounding a bit acidic and tough more like a stereotypical tomboy and not occasionally rowdy, but otherwise friendly and helpful like the Mo we all knew and loved.

"I agree, Mo." Fiona nodded at the tomboy who was her right-hand girl.

"I need to talk with Fiona." Shrek said.

"Not unless you have an appointment, scum," Mo glared as she got in Shrek's face. "I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just help yourself into talking to Fiona like your Mr. High and Mighty, otherwise it could be ugly for ya and uglier than the warts you have on your lower backside."

"Brogan, I have news from Far Far Away," instructed Fiona. "Gather the others and meet me in the war room."

Brogan, an ogre clad in armor, nodded and left.

"Fiona--" Shrek started, but Mo grabbed him by the lips to shut him up.

"Gretched, make sure everyone is prepared to move out tonight." Mo added.

"It's best to do what they say." Atticus told Shrek, seeming to be unfazed by Mo.

"I guess they don't know each other even though they're in the same place." Cherry commented based on Atticus and Mo barely even acknowledging each other.

"I still have to talk to Fiona," Shrek told Atticus before looking at the ogress. "I need to talk to you."

"What is it?" Fiona asked firmly.

"Okay, I know you don't remember me, but, we're married," Shrek said to Fiona who just began to look confused. "Hear me out. I was at the birthday party with some pigs and a puppet and some kids we once knew who helped me save you, the villagers wanted me to sign their pitchforks, and this boy kept saying, 'Do the roar. Do the roar. Do the roar'. Then I punched the cakes that the pigs ate and that one boy made and the next thing I knew, my donkey fell in your waffle hole."

"...That sounds a bit... Uh..." Cherry blinked. "...I don't know what to call it... Subliminal?"

"Right? Who's with me?" Shrek soon asked the others, hoping thath e was believed.

"Wow, I guess I must have kicked him harder than I thought." Fiona chuckled as she believed Shrek's story was just a delusional rant.

The ogres in the resistance laughed a bit.

"All right, I guess the other Shrek had a point." Shrek said to himself.

"I think your friend needs help." Atticus mumbled to Cherry as he passed by.

"That's putting it lightly." Lionel sighed.

"Fiona, I need to--" Shrek started, but Fiona put her hand up, listening for something.

A look-out ogre made "caw-caw" noises to signal something.

"Witches!" Fiona exclaimed. "Alright, everyone, you know the drill!" She and the other ogres, except Shrek, went to their battle stations.

"Fiona!" Shrek called.

"Come on!" Cherry exclaimed. "When in Rome!"

"Witches!" Donkey panicked. "Oh, no! Witches! Witches!"

"Come on now!" Shrek told Donkey as he grabbed the sticks he was still attached to.

* * *

Some of the ogres cut some ropes, closing up the big holes some ogres hid in just in time, and dropping sandbags on fires, putting them out. The weapons were placed in a net which was hoisted upwards, and then a couple of ogres hid in a hole underground, putting a cover over the hiding place. Some other ogres, wearing rocks and plants on their heads, held their breaths as they ducked down into some swamp water, and the remaining ogres (Fiona and Brogan included) with bush disguises gathered around the spot where Shrek was and crouched down. With that, every last ogre and the camp itself was completely hidden from sight. Shrek covered the whimpering Donkey's mouth, while the ogres looked up, and saw three of the witches flying up over the forest on their brooms. Atticus and Mo hid in separate spots as they glared at the witches who tried to ambush them, but they wouldn't get the chance this time. The lead witch glanced down at the forest, not finding any ogres or the camp, and gave a sneer. The witches then flew off, retreating to Rumpelstiltskin's castle. Once they were gone, the ogres came from their hiding place, murmuring while heading back to their posts.

"Fiona, that's the third patrol today," Mo said to the ogress. "We can't hide forever."

"Trust me, Mo. After tonight, we won't have to." Fiona reassured her.

"That's your wife?" Donkey asked from where he sat with Shrek, Cherry, and Lionel.

"That's my wife." Shrek nodded.

"Well, I see who wears the chain mail in your family!" Donkey then remarked.

Shrek gave him a look for that.

"He's got a point." Atticus shrugged.

"I can only imagine what horrors would lie in Rumplestiltskin's castle..." Cherry said to herself.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._ **

"Cook faster, Spellman!" Thor glared at Zelda as she was cooking as fast as she could. "You know how cranky Rumplestiltskin gets when he hasn't eaten in a while!"

"I'm going as fast as I can, kid," Zelda replied, a bit firm and annoyed with him. "I didn't graduate from Witch Academy wanting to be a gourmet chef."

"Well, boo-hoo for you!" Thor retorted. "We don't all get what we want! You lost your servant, and Rumplestiltskin lost his ogre, so we ALL get screwed over!"

At a table, Rumple stared at an hourglass while some of the other witches ate cupcakes. "Some people like to look at the goblet as--as half empty," he said, as he turned to face the witches. "Me, I like to look at it as half full. We've gone from the bottom to the top, ladies, but we're not just an empire, we're a family. Everyone has got their cupcake? Cupcake? Cupcake? Good. Yes?" he turned to one of the witches. "Baba?"

The respective witch nodded.

"Good," Rumple replied as he began to pace around the table. "Yeah, you know, we have put away a lot of ogres. And so one got away. Who cares? It's not a big deal. It doesn't matter to me."

One of the witches who was eating her cupcake nodded in agreement.

"It's not like it's the end of the world!" Rumple smiled with a chuckle.

Thor soon came into the room.

"Yes, Tiny?" Rumple asked.

"Your soup will be ready soon, sir." Thor reported.

"Excellent... I'm on top of the world," Rumple grinned. "...Except for one funny thing~"

"Uh-oh..." Thor gulped instantly.

"Now that I think about it, the ogre who got away is Shrek!" Rumple continued as frustration rang high in his voice. "And if he shares a kiss with Fiona by sunrise, it _is_ the end of the world! OUR world! MY EMPIRE!

Fifi, resting nearby, honked loudly.

"Master Rumplestiltskin, remember your blood pressure," Thor warned, sounding a bit scared. "We will stop that meddling ogre Shrek and that puny human girl he's hanging around with. I can help promise you that, sir."

Rumple then calmed his tone, taking a deep breath as he had Thor pour him a glass of water. "But, as I was saying... I like to look at the goblet as half full." he stated.

The witches glanced at each other, terrified.

"Yelling makes me so parched. Would anyone care for some water?" Rumple asked as he strolled about the table, shoving it in each of the witches' faces, making them yelp in fear. "Wet your whistle? A clear, crisp, delicious glass... Of aqua purificada? Anybody's thirsty? Nobody's thirsty? No?" he replied before setting the pitcher down. "Well, then does anyone care to tell me what it's going to take to get this ogre?!" He narrowed his eyes and pointed to one witch. "You!"

"Faster brooms?" The witch replied.

"No!"

"Pointier hats?" asked another.

"No! _You_!"

"Maybe we could hire a professional bounty hunter?" suggested a third.

Rumple was so furious that he launched into a frenzied tantrum, before splashing the water onto the witch, causing her to melt.

"What a world! What a world!" The witch then shrieked as she melted away.

Hilda and Zelda looked on, terrified, as the steam cleared, leaving nothing of the witch but a soggy pile of her clothes.

Then, Rumple pondered over the suggestion. "You know, that's actually not a bad idea," he realized. "Baba!"

Baba jumped out of her chair in fear.

"I need a bounty hunter. And if music doth soothe the savage beast…" Rumple smiled, chortling evilly. "...Then I think I might know just the person!" he dipped his finger in the frosting of the cupcake and licked the frosting right off, giving a malicious grin.

"You don't mean...?" Thor asked.

"Oh, I mean~" Rumple smirked.

Thor gulped nervously before grinning. "Of course, Master Rumple," he then said. "This is going to be so much fun! ...Though sometimes I'm worried I'm being too mean to the others," he said with a small pout. "I just wanna have friends."

"And you will have some friends as long as they remember to fear and dread you like your uncle once was," Rumple grinned as he patted Thor on his head. "You remember the stories about him, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," Thor nodded. "Everybody was afraid of him and respected him, but what was most important is that he was big and strong. I sure hope I can be just like him someday."

"And you shall, I guarantee it," Rumple grinned. "NOW GO FETCH SOME SOUP!"

"Fetching soup!" Thor replied as he took off.

"...Imbecilic child..." Rumple grumbled once the young strong warlock was gone.

Back at the resistance camp, a meeting was being held inside a tree.

"Okay, you guys can come to the meeting as long as you be brave, quiet, and don't spread this back to anyone from the outside." Mo firmly told Cherry and Lionel.

"We won't," Cherry reassured. "I'm not one to betray my friends."

"Consider our lips sealed." Lionel nodded firmly.

"Listen up, everyone. Word has come from Far Far Away," Fiona informed the other ogres. "Stiltskin is leading tonight's ogre hunt himself."

"He's never done that before. What? Why?" murmured the other ogres.

"I bet that's cuz of us." said Donkey.

Shrek shushed him.

"I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts that it's a set-up for a trap." Lionel stated.

"If that cupcake-eating clown finally leaves the safety of his filthy witch nest, he'll be vulnerable." Brogan declared.

"The plan's simple," Fiona told her fellow ogres as Atticus and Mo took their own positions and the ogress started moving a model of the carriage with a couple witches along a path, with the ogre models off to the side and her model on top of a cliff. "If they follow the usual patrol route, they'll reach the river by midnight. We'll be concealed along this road, waiting for his caravan. Once they reach the clearing, I'll give the signal," she then pressed the top of her model's head, making its arm raise up a sword it had, which would be the signal. "And then we attack!" she then proclaimed while raising her actual dagger and used it to slide the ogre models toward the witch models, knocking the latter down and off the table. "And when the smoke clears--" she then continued until she noticed a model of Cookie with some sort of wagon. "Wait, what's this?"

"That's my chimichanga stand." Cookie smiled bashfully.

"No, Cookie," Fiona told him. "We won't be needing that."

"Trust me, Fiona," Cookie reassured. "Y'all gonna be really hungry after this ambush, okay?"

Fiona only gave a small smirk, deciding to humor him.

"Are you done?" Mo asked.

"Yes, I'm done now," Cookie nodded before looking at the ogress. "Go ahead and finish your little speech."

"All right, as I was saying, when the smoke clears, Rumplestiltskin is gone as well as that brutish friend of his and the chimichangas have been eaten, Far Far Away will finally be free." Fiona then concluded.

"And so will we." Brogan then said as Atticus nodded.

"Spread the word," Fiona told her fellow ogres. "We move out as soon as Rumple leaves the palace."

The other ogres chattered in agreement along with Atticus and Mo.

"Man, this _is_ serious!" Donkey exclaimed.

Shrek slumped over. "Tell me about it. How am I ever gonna get her to kiss me before sunrise?" he asked.

"I think he meant the revolution." Lionel stated.

"Revolution?" Shrek scoffed.

"Why don't you just tell her what you told me?" asked Donkey. "About how you're her true love and you came from an alternate universe!"

"Well, while I'm at it, why don't I tell her that you're married to a fire-breathing dragon and you have little, mutant donkey-dragon babies?" Shrek replied sarcastically.

Donkey gasped in surprise. "I _do_?!" he exclaimed.

"You saw what happened. She's gonna think I'm crazy." remarked Shrek.

"I'm a DADDY?!" Donkey gushed, still on the previous subject matter.

"Yes, yes, you're a daddy and you have the most creepy cute babies I've ever seen." Cherry said to him.

"You know what?" Shrek rolled his eyes as he soon took out a frog and blew it up like a balloon just like he did in the first adventure that introduced him to Cherry and the others. "If I got Fiona to kiss me once, then I can do it again."

"This can only end so well." Cherry sighed as she had a bad feeling about this.

Shrek started to head inside Fiona's tent and he soon peered his head inside.

"Guys, do my babies have hooves or talons?" Donkey asked hopefully.

"...Yes." Cherry replied.

"Donkey!" Shrek complained to him.

"So, uh, Mo?" Cherry asked. "How about that guy, Atticus? He seems really smart and friendly, huh?"

"...Yeah, I guess," Mo shrugged like she didn't care. "I don't know him that well?"

"How come?" Cherry then asked.

"Well, he's never talked to me," Mo shook her head. "I thought maybe he'd be interested, but... He's never showed me. Falling in love with some dopey kid is a waste of time anyway when there's war, recession, and bad mortgage loans."

"Well, maybe it's not that he isn't interested," suggested Lionel. "It could be that things are just so hectic with the whole Rumpelstiltskin situation that he can't find the time to express some interest in you. Besides, I heard him saying you're a heck of a fighter when you and Fiona returned. And I quote, 'maybe even better than I am', unquote."

"Heh..." Mo chuckled with a light smirk. "Yes, it's been hard to rest lately with Rumplestiltskin around terrorizing our dreams and nightmares with what he's done."

"I'm sure I know just what you mean," Cherry replied. "But anyway... Think about spending time with Atticus... It might be good for both of you. You're both around the same age and you're, uh, more or less the same species in The Resistance."

"It would be nice, I suppose, I'll give it some thought," Mo nodded. "Also, I wish your friend Shrek there a bit of luck to get past Fiona's security."

"Uh, security?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, she has a guard cat," Mo explained. "He's all talk and fluff though."

"And I think I know who this guard cat might be." Cherry then remarked to herself.

Lionel looked at her, confused by this.

"Puss in Boots." Cherry said to him.

"Ohh." Lionel replied.

* * *

"Hello? Fiona?" Shrek called out as he went inside with the frog balloon tied to a string attached to a small gift basket he had. He looked around, seeing a shield and weapons hung up, and a play tower/scratching post for cats.

"You should not be here, Senior." A familiar voice said as a pair of glowing green eyes appeared.

"Puss?" Shrek asked.

Suddenly, Puss's lower half started squeezing out, only something was different about it: it was bigger and more round. The cat grunted and squeezed out of the hole, finally revealing what he looked like in this world: a tubby orange cat, currently wearing nothing but a bow around his neck.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Shrek said in anguish.

The orange cat slid down the scratching post very slowly and plopped onto a purple pillow at the foot of the tower. He struggled a bit to get up, but he eventually sat up and gave his usual glare towards foes. "Feed me, if you dare." he then spoke.

"Puss, what happened to you?" Shrek asked in concern as he set the basket down. "You got so fa--"

The orange cat glared, knowing he was about to say the obvious word.

"Fa... Fancy." Shrek then suddenly covered up.

"Do I know you?" The cat narrowed his eyes.

"Well, where's your hat?" Shrek asked. "Where's your belt? Your wee little boots?"

"Boots? For a cat? Ha!" Puss scoffed as he got off of his pillow before groaning as he got up and staggered toward some cream bottles and a bowl.

"But you're Puss in Boots." Shrek reminded the fat cat.

"Maybe once, but that is a name I have outgrown." The cat replied as he popped the lid off of one bottle.

"That's not the only thing you've outgrown," Cherry snarked as she suddenly jumped into the scene, never missing a chance to have one of her infamous sardonic quips whenever the time called for it. "Also, I guess at least it's not Patch or Salem."

"Hey! I may have let myself go a little since retirement, but hanging up my sword was the best decision of my life," said Puss as he poured himself some cream. "I have all the cream I can drink and all the mice I can chase."

A mouse scampered by.

"Eh, I'll get him later." Puss shrugged as he began licking out of the bowl, along with the mouse.

"Puss, what have I done to you?" exclaimed Shrek. "You've gone soft."

The cat yawned as he laid on his pillow. "Well, I do get brushed twice a day."

"Look, it's not too late to fix it," Cherry spoke up. "All you have to do is help Shrek get a kiss from Fiona."

At this time, Fiona came back and was not happy to see Shrek and Cherry inside her tent without permission. "What are you doing?" she then demanded to know.

"Hey!" Shrek gasped as he suddenly turned around.

"Can I help you with something?" Fiona asked firmly.

"Actually, I was just leaving." Cherry spoke up.

"Well, I know how stressful mounting a rebellion can be, rallying the troops, planning attacks and all that, so I brought you a little something to ease the tension." Fiona soon said as he held up the gift basket, but she didn't seem impressed.

"A gift basket?" Fiona scoffed at him.

"This can only end so well." Cherry groaned as she face-palmed.

"You're welcome. So let's see what you got," Shrek grinned nervously at Fiona before he got out each different gift from the basket. "Heart-shaped box of slugs. A skunk-scented candle," he then suddenly sniffed the candle. "Mm..."

"Look, this really isn't the--" Fiona began.

"What's this?" Shrek asked before holding out a homemade coupon book. "Coupons! Let's see, 'Good for one free foot massage'. 'A mud facial'! Oh, and here's one. 'Good for one free kiss'. Let's cash it now."

"Ugh, this never works for my dad." Cherry hit her head against the wall, feeling embarrassed for Shrek.

"Look, I don't know what this is all about, but I'm trying to run a revolution," Fiona said, feeling uncomfortable. "So unless you have Rumplestiltskin's head in there, I suggest you take your gift basket, get out of my tent and go make yourself useful!"

"Ugh, I'm outta here..." Cherry grimaced as she began to leave the tent before she heard something. "Huh? What's that?"

The sound got a bit stronger as it sounded like a puppy whimpering.

"...Spot?" Cherry wondered as she followed the sound as best as she could.

In the far-off distance in the middle of the forest was a Dalmatian puppy who looked a bit small, weak, and hungry who was shivering and whimpering like he was having a terrible nightmare.


	6. Chapter 6

"Spot... Patch! PATCH! Wake up!" Cherry said, trying to wake him up. "It's me, Cherry!"

The dog woke up with a shout of terror. "...W-Who are you? Don't hurt me, please!" he begged, cowering under his paws.

"It's okay, Spot, it's okay..." Cherry said to him.

"My name's not Spot," Patch shivered at her. "My name's Patch and I'm lucky to be alive."

"It's okay though," Cherry said. "We're friends... You can trust me... What're you doing out here and not with Atticus?"

"I-I-I don't know anyone named Atticus," Patch gulped as he looked scared to death. "I-I'm all alone... I'm just a spineless coward... My family's all dead and it's not my fault!"

"C-Come now, I'm sure that's not the case..." Cherry said, trying to pet him, but he kept backing up away from her. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"What do you _think_ happened?! That devil woman!" Patch cried out as he looked like a shell-shocked war veteran as he explained to her while looking sad and scared, on the verge of tears. "I-I-I was with my parents, brothers, and sisters... We were so close to getting away... We were with a v-v-v-van driver n-named Nigel... B-But the devil woman... She kept hitting us very, very hard w-w-with her car... She kept backing up at us to get us o-o-off of the road... I-It was really scary! Eventually... The m-m-moving van fell off of the edge and crashed... I jumped out and landed on a tree... B-But my family didn't survive..."

Cherry looked very wide-eyed and pale in the face. Though she wasn't there for the infamous de Vil vs Dalmatian car chase and only heard about it, she looked a bit terrified just imaginaging it, not to mention that an innocent man and a family of dogs were all killed in the end of it as a result. "Gosh... That's rough..." she then whispered sickly.

"Y-You don't know the half of it..." Patch whimpered sadly. "'Rough' is putting it lightly."

"Spot..." Cherry said before shaking her head. "Patch... I'm so sorry..."

Patch just stared down at the ground. "I doubt this sort of thing has ever happened to Thunderbolt..." he said with a light sniffle as he looked ready to cry.

"Look, Patch," Cherry said as she came closer, trying to be soft and gentle. "What if I told you that you're a lot braver and one of a kind than you think you are? You're a lot more amazing than you know."

"How would you know?" Patch snorted weakly. "You barely even know me."

"Actually... I know more than you think... And your family is going to be okay..." Cherry said as she reached out to pet him, hesitating a few times before her hand finally touched the top of his head, trying to pet him before her hand started to glow as his eyes also did. "Who's a good boy? Come on, Patch... Who's a good boy?" she then asked before yelping as her eyes glowed with his.

After a few minutes, the glowing ceased, and Patch shook his head. "...Cherry? What happened? And how did we get here?" he asked before his stomach gurgled. "...Also, is there anywhere we can get something to eat? I feel like I haven't had a decent meal in weeks!"

"Oh, Spot!" Cherry beamed as she suddenly hugged the Dalmatian. "I'm so glad that you're back."

"...Am I in the right universe?" Patch asked as he looked around warily.

"I just don't understand," Cherry said. "Rumplestiltskin took Shrek's life away... And my friends' memories... Not to mention they've been having horrible and terrible nightmares lately... But how and why?" she then said to herself, pondering out loud.

"Ooh, tell me about it," Patch replied. "I had this very spooky nightmare where Cruella drove all of us off of the cliff, Nigel is sure very brave for a human. He was the real hero of mine and my family's adventure before we made it back to Roger, Anita, and Nanny in time for Christmas."

Shrek was then thrown out of the tent on his back before Cherry and Patch walked over.

"Hey, guys! Are my babies cute or do they make people feel uncomfortable?" Donkey soon asked as he also approached the ogre with an excited grin.

"Uh, well, I find them cute." Cherry said bashfully to Donkey as she let Patch walk over beside her.

"Well, Drell _did_ mention some sort of new Nightmare King," Patch replied. "Right before he made you feel bad for not dropping everything and sacrificing your sleep to monitor everyone's dreams."

"A new Nightmare King..." Cherry repeated as she began to look thoughtful. "Something tells me I better find out who that is the next time we all go to sleep."

"Want some help?" Lionel asked her.

"If I need back-up, I'll come to you in your dream, but I feel like I need to discover this on my own first," Cherry told him. "But thank you though."

Lionel beamed and blushed at her approval.

* * *

**_Back inside the tent..._ **

"Where'd we find that guy?" Fiona groaned and rolled her eyes about Shrek.

Meanwhile, Puss was looking at his own reflection in the shield, and thought about the little talk between him, Cherry, and Shrek. "Could it be true?" he then sighed to himself. "Have the years of prim and pampery made me soft?"

"Don't be silly," Fiona cooed as she took out a comb and a brush. "Now who's a pretty kitty?"

"I am~" Puss beamed as he gave a cute pose.

* * *

**_MEANWHILE, AT RUMPLESTILTSKIN'S CASTLE..._ **

The three pigs were forced to clean and care for Rumple's ornery pet goose, Fifi. "Daddy thinks you look real nice, Fifi," the man himself told his goose as he strolled over. "All right, Piggies, be gone! Don't forget to take her little potty box with you."

Dieter and Heimlich then carried the waste box away in disgust, with Horst following and spraying some perfume to drown any odors. 

Fifi snipped Horst in his tail, making him yelp. "This little piggy wants to go home!" he shrieked as he ran off.

Thor watched the Three Little Pigs, looking firm before he soon looked soft and a bit unhappy in the treatment of those beneath him and Rumple.

"Cheer up, boy-o," Rumple smirked as he pressed his fingertips together. "All that matters is that people fear you as well as respect you."

"Even if it makes them unhappy?" Thor asked.

"Of course." Rumple nodded.

"And, uh, what if we say... I don't want to do this anymore?" Thor asked nervously.

"Oh, it's all right, if you don't like what's happening, I guess you don't have to stick around," Rumple bribed. "You can easily get out."

"I can?!" Thor gasped.

"Sure!" Rumple smirked. "If you just sign a little contract..."

"Ooh, I'm not sure if I wanna do that," Thor said nervously. "You tell me that your magic comes with a price."

"Yes, indeed it does," Rumple grinned. "Just ask your uncle when he sacrificed himself to save you~"

"...What?" Thor asked, wide-eyed.

"Mr. Stiltskin! He's here." A witch called out as she rushed inside of the room.

"Nice," Rumple nodded in approval as he sat back on his throne with a couple other witches at his side. "Play with your little toys, Thornton... 'Uncle Rumple's' gotta work now."

"But w-w-wait, what was this about--" Thor spoke up.

The bounty hunter then came in through the doors, playing a flute, and he was approaching the throne, but not using his arms and legs to do so. Instead, he used a magic flute to make a small pack of mice carrying him all the way on their backs. Once the bounty hunter was revealed in front of the dictator and witches, the mice scampered off. He was in fact the Pied Piper.

"Pied Piper," Rumple greeted his new bounty hunter. "How was your commute?"

Instead of speaking, the piper communicated by playing a few notes.

"Good." Rumple approved as he seemed to understand that.

"You call this guy a bounty hunter?" Griselda sneered. "What's he gonna do, flute those ogres a lullaby?" As she and her cohorts laughed, Zelda and Hilda gulped at one another as Rumple nodded to the Piper, who changed the setting to affect witches before he began playing "Sure Shot" by the Beastie Boys.

Thor stepped aside then.

"You see, boy?" Rumple smirked at the warlock teen. "You can really have it all when you take charge like this."

"I guess you're right..." Thor said softly.

"Okay, got it!" Griselda cried out. "Make it stop!"

"Stop it, stop it, please!" Hilda added.

"WE BEG YOU!" Zelda yelped.

Rumple just laughed at this, enjoying it. The dancing and song lasted for a bit, before the dictator got up, waving his arms.

"All right, that's enough." The twisted little imp soon requested.

With that, the witches' dancing halted, ending with involuntary dancer poses as the three panted, and the piper ended his tune. "Looks, like it's time to pay the piper." Rumple then said with an evil look on his face.

The witches still stood where they were.

"Griselda, seriously, it's time to pay the piper," Rumple narrowed his eyes. "Now go get my checkbook!"

Hilda and Zelda soon left and Griselda got up to get the checkbook, but the impatient imp soon kicked her rear.

"Go! Move! Get out!" Rumple sneered as he got ready to pay his new bounty hunter. "Things are getting real sloppy around here!"

The piper then switched the setting from witch to unicorn to his commissioned setting: ogre.

"And now... I need my power nap," Rumple said before yawning as he clapped his hands which made Thor approach him and carry him over to bed. "Do not disturb my slumber, I really need it since being a ruthless dictator is exhausting."

"Of course, I understand," Thor nodded as he brought Rumple over to his very large bed which was that of a royal bed before the curtains were being pulled on to surround the bed and the imp had a sleepmask. "Good night, Master Rumple. Sweet dreams."

"Oh, I plan for it~" Rumple smirked as he took out a bag filled with glowing purple orbs as he poured a few in the palm of his hand as he drifted and began to fall asleep as his body seemed to glow a little during his sleep as he came into a room which would seem familiar to those familiar with Cherry's adventures as she was a Dream Walker as he wore a dark cloak that covered his face as he held the purple orbs close. "Now, let me see... Who shall I plague with unstoppable and uncontrollable night terrors tonight with no precious little dream-bender Cherry around to stop me?~ Ah, what the heck? I'll go with all of the above!" he then added with a fiendish snicker.

* * *

**_MEANWHILE..._ **

Back at the resistance camp, Shrek had been put on kitchen duty by Cookie; he was now wearing a hair net (despite the fact he had no hair) and a smock.

Cookie handed Shrek a bowl of the usual food ogres eat. "Here, now make sure they eat up!" he instructed. "You can't end tyranny on an empty stomach!" he pushed Shrek out, giving him a smack on the rear. "Go on! Go!" So Shrek went to the other dining ogres as Cookie called out to them. "Din-din!"

Cherry grunted and groaned as she had fallen asleep in the meantime. Patch came over to Cherry's face and licked her awake.

"NO! STOP!" Cherry cried out as she sat up, waking up in a cold sweat as she lightly panted and clutched her chest as her heart raced. "Phew... It was just a dream..."

"Sorry for licking you, Cherry, I know you hate that, but it was the best way that I could wake you up." Patch said to the perky goth.

"Oh... Thanks, Patch..." Cherry said softly. "I needed that... What's going on?"

"It's time to eat," Patch smiled. "And I've got a good feeling."

"We're eating with ogres... I'm concerned..." Cherry grimaced.

Cherry, Lionel, Patch, Atticus, and Mo soon went to go with the ogres to get something to eat as Cherry wiped her slobber covered cheek.

"If I know ogres, and I do," said Mo. "Odds are it'll be something gross."

Sure enough, Mo was correct; one of the ogres slurped up a snake like a spaghetti noodle, another was eating cockroaches and onions straight off a shish-kabob stick, another chomped into a worm burger, with some roaches scattering all over him, and one more ogre slurped up a whole string of snails attached together. Donkey was at one of the tables with the ogres, surprisingly not as dinner but as a guest.

"...Once again, skipping dinner." Lionel gagged as his face turned green.

"Come on, Donkey. One more time, please?" begged one ogre.

"All right, but this is the last time." Donkey replied.

Shrek stopped just to take a glance as Donkey dunked his snout into a bowl of eyeballs.

"Here it comes," Brogan chuckled. "Look at him."

Donkey raised his head back up, closed his eyes and then let out a snort, causing two eyeballs (the ones from the bowl, not his own) to pop out of his nostrils. Shrek yelped in surprise and disgust, but the other ogres, on the other hand, all laughed heartily because they found the trick hilarious.

"I see you!" Donkey called as he waggled his tongue.

Cherry suddenly fell over, twitching in the middle of the floor.

"Uh, you okay, Berry?" Atticus asked.

"My name... Is Cherry..." Cherry panted nervously. "I-I'll be fine... As soon as I can go back in time to before I saw that disturbing visual."

"These eyes have seen a lot of loves, But they're never gonna see another one like I had with you~" Donkey began to sing as he was having a great time so far.

"That's quite a friend you've got there," Brogan spoke to Shrek as Donkey wagged out his tongue again. "I can see why you haven't eaten him."

"Donkey!" Shrek called as Donkey then blinked his real eyes and pulled the trick eyeballs out of his nostrils. "I hate to pull you away from your adoring public, but I'm not getting anywhere with Fiona. I need your help!"

"I need help..." Cherry said, looking a bit traumatized.

Atticus and Mo began to help Cherry up off of the ground before they looked into each other's eyes.

"...Hey." Atticus smiled.

"...Hi." Mo said with a nod of her head.

Lionel helped Cherry up. "Well, I think I'm remembering more about that timeline you came from. I think you liked these?" he explained, handing her a small package of Little Debbie Zebra Cakes.

Cherry unwrapped the first Zebra Cake and shoved it in her mouth, stuffing the others from the box in her pockets. "Sorry, Shrek," she then said with slight muffling. "That's just how life is right now."

"I hate to pull you away from your adoring public, but I'm not getting anywhere with Fiona." Shrek informed Donkey as he pulled the eyeballs from his nostrils. "I need your help!"

"Hey, everybody. Who wants dessert?" called Cookie, as he threw one of the gifts Shrek had for Fiona onto the table. The ogres eagerly swarmed around it, ripping it apart and devouring the lid and the slugs inside. By the time they dispatched, they only left the heart-shaped base at the bottom, torn in half.

"Where'd you get these?" asked one ogre.

"Fiona's garbage," Cookie replied. "Just another gift from some clueless lover boy."

The ogres and Donkey all laughed, while Shrek just felt embarrassed.

"That's a good one, Cookie!" Donkey chuckled, but a glare from Shrek shut him up.

"Anyone who knows Fiona knows this stuff ain't gonna work on her." Another one of the ogres said to the others.

"Works on me." Gretched said as she took one of the slugs and ate it.

The resistance ogres laughed a bit some more.

"Guys, what am I gonna do?" Shrek sighed in dismay. "It's like I don't even know her."

"You in trouble, Romeo," Donkey replied. "The only thing Fiona cares about is her cause."

"To the cause!" Brogan proclaimed as he raised his fist.

"To the cause!" The other ogres copied as they did the same, except for Shrek as they then cheered a bit, before continuing their eating.

"All right!" Donkey cheered with the ogres.

Then Shrek had an epiphany, knowing the only way he could possibly get close to this world's Fiona in order to save himself.

"You okay?" Cherry soon asked Shrek.

"I have an idea!" Shrek told her. "This has gotta be it this time!"

"Great," Cherry nodded before gulping down the current Zebra Cake. "You do that, I'm gonna have dessert of my own."

* * *

In Fiona's tent, said ogress was busy doing combat practice when Shrek appeared, wearing a helmet and iron bracelets around his wrists.

"Hello!" he called, right as Fiona nearly cleaved his head in with an axe.

Fiona lifted her blindfold to see who it was.

"Nice moves." Shrek complimented.

Fiona fully removed her blindfold. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"What does it look like?" Shrek replied. "I'm getting ready for ambush action. Oh, yeah. I always like to quad my lutes and do some scrunches before an operational... Op," he picked out a spiky tool from a nearby weapon bucket. "This one taken?"

"We use _that_ to clean the toilets." Fiona replied.

Shrek pulled out another weapon.

"And we use _that_ one to clean the thing we clean the toilets with."

"I knew that." Shrek replied, before he got an axe.

"There you go, chief." Fiona nodded.

Then, to Shrek's surprise, the axe was part mace. He chuckled a bit, swinging it around before the axe part snapped off the chain and spun towards a witch dummy, landing in the head's center. He chuckled a bit again, impressed by his accidental success hit, but when he leaned on the weapon bucket, he knocked it over. He tried picking it up, but he ended up knocking some witch dummies and more stuff over, yelping in the progress. The noises woke up Puss, who was sleeping on an upper ledge. Cherry and the others soon began to sneak along.

"What's happening now?" Atticus asked.

"I'm hoping Shrek is finding a way to get Fiona to fall in love with him," Cherry replied. "Meanwhile, I have a very big problem since you guys don't remember me very well."

"We're getting there," Lionel smiled before groaning. "As long as those terrible nightmares stop."

"I promise, whoever that Nightmare King is, I'll send him packing to Daydream Island." Cherry narrowed her eyes in determination.

The others looked at her.

"No, that's not a real place, I was just trying to sound clever." Cherry told them.

"Ohh..." They then said, nodding in understanding.

"Hey, uh, Scott?" Fiona spoke up.

"My name is Shrek, actually." Shrek corrected.

"You're going to get yourself killed at the ambush tonight." Fiona warned him.

"I'll be fine," Shrek said as he got up on his feet. "I think I can take care of myself."

Then, without warning, Fiona threw a shield against him as a song began to play. "Well, let's see about that." The ogress then smirked as she then started to assault him with a huge hammer, which he used his shield to block. This was some type of training.

"Hey!" Shrek cried out.

"Say it with me now," Cherry smirked at the readers. "Next, we get a montage."

And so, the montage did begin, with Shrek and Fiona gradually growing closer over a relatively long period of time.

* * *

But just when it seemed like the deal was sealed, Fiona shook it off. "Okay. Good. It seems like you can handle yourself." she declared.

"But, Fiona--" Shrek started.

"Now go get ready for the mission!" Fiona told him.

"I will, but Fiona--"

"That's an order!" Fiona demanded, as she headed off. 

Shrek tried to speak out, but didn't know what to say, and looked down, for he had once again failed to get a kiss from her. So as all the other ogres began preparing all their weapons, Shrek just walked through the camp dejectedly.

"All right, let's get those axes sharpened and weapons packed!" announced Brogan. "Preparation is half the battle!"

"And here I thought it was 'knowing'..." Lionel replied, before he blinked.

Cherry chuckled a little lightly as that sounded so good to hear from him.

"She's smiling..." Lionel smiled to himself.

"...Uh, yeah," Cherry replied sheepishly. "D-Don't get used to it though."

"Oh. Well, okay." Lionel replied.

"Awesome Zebra Cakes though." Cherry said.

Lionel beamed, looking psyched about gaining her approval.

"So, come here often?" Atticus asked Mo.

"You trying to flirt?" Mo smirked.

"Maybe?" Atticus replied.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake!" Cherry groaned before she grabbed them and they all glowed so that their memories could be restored to just get this lovey dovey stuff between the two of them over with.

"Mo?" Atticus asked as he blinked.

"Atticus?" Mo replied.

"What are we doing here?" They both asked.

"Well, that was trippy." Patch replied.

"You think Rumplestilskin might be responsible for the dream shenanigans?" Lionel wondered. "He could've gotten stronger, and with Thor, Hilda, and Zelda at his disposal, he would be able to access The Dream Realm."

Cherry looked over and paused thoughtfully.

"Just a hunch..." Lionel shrugged at her.

"I suppose that's possible," Cherry replied before gulping slightly. "I agree with you on that possibility, but I kinda hope that you're wrong."

"I suppose we'll see, then," Lionel replied. "...Also, you didn't sign the contract with Shrek, did you?"

"No, never, of course not, not at all!" Cherry shook her head.

"You sure?" Atticus asked her.

"At least not that I know of or remember," Cherry replied. "Unless he just used my words against me about how tired and exhausting my life's become since I became an adventurer and Dream Walker."

"Well, he got into the Dream Realm _somehow_ ," Lionel told her. "I don't exactly have anything else to go off of."

"I don't know either," Cherry shrugged before narrowing her eyes. "Drink some warm milk, people and curl up with your favorite snuggle toy. Auntie Cherry's gonna visit your dreams and protect you from the Oogey Boogeyman."

"Ogre! Un momento! Un momento!" Puss called out as he rushed over to see Shrek before stopping as he panted heavily due to him being terribly out of shape in this timeline. "Ogre, Ogre, un momento! Just give me a minute."

"Look, Puss, I'm a little pressed for time." Shrek said to the cat.

"I am not believing what I have just witnessed," Puss explained. "Back there, you and Fiona. There was a spark, a spark inside her heart I thought was long extinguished. It was as if, for one moment, Fiona had actually found her true love!"

"I AM her true love," Shrek clarified. "I ended her curse."

Hearing that surprised Puss. "You know of her curse?" he then asked.

"Yeah, we all do," Cherry said, referring to herself and her friends as she tried to look sleepy. "Now... How did that spell go again?"

"'By day, one way, by night another," Shrek spoke up as he memorized what Fiona told him from when they had first met. "This shall be the norm. Until you find true love's first kiss, and then take love's true form'."

"Yeah, that was it." Cherry then nodded.

Puss gasped, stunned at the words Shrek said. "You even know the little rhyme! It is true!" he then told the ogre. "You are the one! You must prove it to her!"

"How?" Shrek asked.

"Convince her!" Puss urged. "Go to her when she is alone and tell her something that only her true love would know."

"Know about what?!" Donkey asked as he popped up from nowhere, startling Cherry and making Puss screech from being startled, and he even hissed at the donkey. "Whoa! That's a whole lot of kitty!" he then beamed. "Guys, can we keep him?"

"Do you MIND?" Cherry asked. "I'm trying to sleep here!"

"Since when do you actually sleep at night?" Donkey asked her.

"Since I have to maybe stop Rumplestiltskin," Cherry said before lying down. "But I can't sleep... I don't even know if I'll be able to make it into the Dream Realm if I signed away my powers."

"But... You said it yourself..." Lionel yawned as he was now clutching a small orange bear. "You didn't sign... So you should be okay. Besides... Maybe we can help."

"Where did you get that?" Cherry asked, eyeing the bear.

"I made it appear," Lionel replied. "I thought you might need it..."

Cherry looked around, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"But I guess if you don't want it--" Lionel began.

"Gimme that," Cherry snatched the bear and hugged it, clutching it a bit as some light lullaby music began to play before she whispered to him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lionel smiled. "Sweet dreams."

Cherry's eyes began to feel heavy as she soon yawned a bit and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Cherry soon woke up in a blank, dull, and gray room all by herself. "All right, Cherry, you might not be able to visit the Dream Realm, but just remember... What you're seeing is a dream, it's not real, and it can't hurt you..." she said as she stood up and went to open the door to go out into a bright and colorful world that had all of her friends together, laughing and having a good time without her. "All right, Stiltskin... Wherever you're hiding, you better come on out where I can see you before I give you a real Nightmare on Elm Street."

A chuckle was heard. "Clever, clever, little Cherry," Rumple's voice spoke. "But that snide attitude won't save you or your friends. Speaking of which, I've heard what they said. Where's Cherry? Why isn't she here to save us? Face it, you were selfish."

"I am not selfish," Cherry glared as she looked around for him. "Where are you?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?~" Rumple's voice taunted.

"I know what you're doing and it won't work," Cherry glared as she began to look around, though she was unable to find him. "I don't know how you figured out our worst fears and turned them into inescapable nightmares and memory erasers. Like Patch's fear of Cruella de Vil... Lionel's fear of being tortured without friends there to back him up... Atticus's fear of turning evil... Or my fear of..." she then paused before she stopped herself. "Nope, not walking right into that one."

"In fact, why don't we listen in?" Rumple asked, and then they both began hearing the sounds of Lionel, Mo, Patch, Atticus and Thor crying out. "I mean, figuring out their fears was easy; but gaining access to their dreams gave me a doorway into their minds. From that point, wiping out their memories was easy. And I don't know how you restored them, but this time, I'll make sure that their memories don't EVER come back... And neither will you!~"

"...You _are_ the Nightmare King." Cherry narrowed her eyes in realization.

"Ding-Ding-Ding, it looks like we have a winner!" Rumple grinned as he pinched her cheek. "Do you wanna claim your prize?"

"I'd rather not," Cherry glared as she slapped his hand away and rubbed her cheek in disgust. "What have you done? How did you even become the Nightmare King and when did you take away my powers."

"So many questions, but so little time, dearie," Rumple mocked her. "Maybe Drell should've trusted someone else with your Dream Walker job instead of just relying on little old you... Perhaps Princess Luna or the Sandman... And you don't need to tell me your fears when I have special help from becoming a fear-bender... I'm sure you know what that means?"

"Y-Yeah," Cherry said, trying to keep calm. "Someone who can master and manipulate someone's fears by finding out what they are using them against the victim... Such as... Such as..." she then panicked a bit as she was suddenly in a rowboat without paddles out in the middle of a very big body of water. "Oh... NO!"

"Ah, yes," Rumple taunted. "Your biggest fear is being all alone and abandoned by everybody you love and care about~"

Cherry was now sweating bullets as Rumple laughed with smug glee. 

"Well, I'd love to stick around and watch you squirm... What am I saying? Of COURSE I'll stick around and watch you squirm!" The imp continued mercilessly. "It'll be too much fun watching you give in to your fears. And your friends are too powerless to stop me, because the only way to get their memories back fully is by defeating me in here. But they'll never do it, because they're too scared~"

"S-Stop..." Cherry begged. "M-My friends... Th-Th-They need me..."

"DO they...?" Rumple smirked as he soon showed her to her friends.

"Twilight Spakle is my sister now," Atticus said darkly. "You're dead to me."

"No!" Cherry gasped.

"You're so scrawny and weak," Mo added darkly. "I could beat the crap out of you if I wanted to."

"I know cats who are braver than you are!" Patch spoke up.

"I would never be caught dead with someone so pathetic!" Lionel called.

"Please, no, this isn't happening!" Cherry panicked before the boat began to sink. "It's just a nightmare! I can beat this! I can beat this! Oh, no..." she then said, panicking as she tried to pour water out of the boat frantically. "Help me, guys! HELP MEEEE!"

The group soon laughed at her mockingly as she was close to sinking and drowning. Cherry soon fell through the water and landed in a dark room, landing in a stool and a light shined down on her like in an interrogation room.

* * *

"Cherry Butler... We need to talk..." A voice called to her.

"Huh? Who said that?" Cherry asked, looking around. "Come to pile on my torment? Clearly I haven't suffered enough! And for WHAT? The ONE time I actually choose to care about myself and get some sleep! I mean, being picked to become a Dream Walker is an honor, but I'm JUST ONE PERSON! Even I need sleep!"

Drell soon stepped into the room.

"Oh, great, this is just what I need," Cherry groaned. "You here to tell me I'm a failure?"

"No, Cherry, I'm representing your conscience," Drell told her. "I can't believe you signed a contract with Rumplestiltskin."

"Hmph," Cherry snorted in annoyance as she glared at him once she shook off her fear. "Look on the bright side... At least I didn't DIE!" she then retorted at him.

"Yes, yes, I know," Drell sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said and what happened... You deserve more breaks, especially at your job as a student, adventurer, and dream-bender."

"Gee... You think of that on your own?" Cherry rolled her eyes. "Next thing you're gonna tell me, my schoolwork is suffering because I'm nearly dragged away against my will doing jobs for YOU because of a lifestyle I didn't exactly picture of having as a dream come true."

Drell looked off to the side, mildly embarrassed.

"...I rest my case," Cherry replied. "Besides, I didn't even sign the contract, it was Shrek!"

"Look, I came to help," Drell sighed. "Might as well do so by helping your friends face their fears so they can save you. Look, if you all make it back.... I promise to seek out extra dream patrol candidates to take some of the workload off your shoulders."

"Mm-hmm?" Cherry narrowed her eyes as she crossed her arms. "And I should listen to you because...?"

"Cherry, I'm sorry, I'm a terrible person," Drell told her. "I realize that and I don't deserve your forgiveness... But if you can look past the bad like you did when you convinced Hilda to giving me a second chance when Sabrina turned Hogarth--"

"Harvey." Cherry corrected.

"Harold," Drell continued from there. "Into a frog, and I take care of you and your friends... Can't you forgive me this time? I promise that I'll make it up to you."

Cherry narrowed her eyes. "...Fine, but you better keep this promise this time," she then said. "Especially if I run into you in this alternate reality."

"I doubt you'll be able to find me in this world..." Drell mumbled distantly. "And you'd probably be happy to hear that."

"At this point, I'd gladly take your help," Cherry replied. "So go ahead and do whatever it is you came to do."

"Well, for one thing, you definitely have to make sure Shrek and Fiona fall in love," Drell began to tell her. "Otherwise the triplets won't be born... Far, Far Away will stay like this forever... Puss might be the poster cat for a comic strip where he eats lasagna all day."

"Tell me something I don't know." Cherry snarked.

"And if you don't hurry up and get Thor his own memories back in time, you'll be stuck in this reality forever." Drell then added.

"Yeah, yeah--Wait, WHAT?!" Cherry replied before her eyes widened.

"Well, as I'm sure you guessed, Thor is in this world too," Drell said before sighing. "The alternate me made a deal with Rumplestiltskin."

"And you're getting on _me_ for this?" Cherry glared.

"Let me finish!" Drell told her, placing his hand over her mouth. "Cherry, I wasn't the big, strong, and awesome warlock you see before you today... I used to be a lot like you... Weak, defenseless, and scared, not to mention of my upcoming destiny. I wasn't sure if I could be in charge of the Witch's Council when my mom told me after I turned 16 when my time would come. So, I met him and he made me a deal to train me to be big and strong and awesome, so he gave me a contract to sign... But if you sign a contract with Rumplestiltskin, there's always a price... All magic comes with a price... I had to sacrifice a child very close to me, but I thought I'd be safe because I didn't have any children at that time."

"So...?" Cherry prompted.

"My sister was pregnant," Drell then said as he explained to her. "I became in charge of the Witch's Council after my mother retired... But as soon as Thor was born, Rumplestiltskin showed up and took him away from his parents... I had no idea what I had done."

Cherry winced at that.

"Yes... A lot like when Rose was born and The Huntsmaster came to take her away from her parents." Drell nodded.

"Drell, I'm sorry I doubted you, but I want you to keep your promise to me," Cherry said. "I'll help Shrek help both of our lives... But just promise me, okay?"

"Okay, Cherry, I'll make sure you get extra help from now on," Drell soon said to her as he held out his hand. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, sir..." Cherry nodded before she shook hands with him as they both began to glow before she began to turn transparent. "Good timing, I guess... Looks like I'm waking up."

"I'll get the others," Drell told her. "You just wake up."

"Okay..." Cherry nodded to him. "I'll try."

"Don't try, Cherry, do..." Drell reminded her.

Cherry looked nervous and she soon faded away into nothing.

* * *

Cherry's eyes slowly opened up as she was back in the resistence camp as she hugged her orange teddy bear and she sat up before yawning and stretching, rubbing her eyes. She looked over and saw her friends, asleep and struggling, before their bodies stopped moving. She let out a small sigh as they stopped struggling and came to see them. "You guys awake?" she then asked.

"...I think so," Lionel groaned as he got up. "My head hurts, though."

"You guys didn't have terrible nightmares, did you?" Cherry asked.

"A little bit," Atticus said as he rubbed his arm. "I was worried that I hurt you terribly... I'd hate to do that... You're like a sister to me."

"Atticus, you have no idea how much that means to me right now." Cherry replied.

"I was having my bones broken over and over, and getting my neck snapped!" Lionel replied. "And you were there, and you were there..."

Cherry grimaced as that sounded pretty bad.

"I dreamt I never knew either of you." Mo said softly.

"Aw, Mo..." Cherry sounded touched. "I guess we mean a whole lot to you."

"Well, yeah," Mo nodded. "I never really had any friends before I met you guys."

"So now we just have to save Thor and restore his memories!" Patch exclaimed as he joined the others.

"But I'm not sure we have enough power to do that," Cherry replied.

"Individually? No." Lionel stated.

"But combined? Ohhhhh, yeah~" Atticus declared.

"I just hope we can do it in time," Cherry sighed. "Maybe when the ogres go to Rumplestiltskin's castle, we can get him."

"Thor's with Rumplestiltskin? Hm..." Atticus replied thoughtfully. "Must be hiring him for muscle."

"Or something like that... But maybe worse..." Cherry said as she knew more than they did before sighing. "I kinda miss the big guy."

"Same," Lionel agreed. "But we're gonna hafta strike while Sir Wigs-a-Lot is busy dealing with the ogres. That's our best chance to combine our powers and get Thor back."

"Hopefully at the right time too," Cherry said. "I have to be positive... Even if that's physically hard for me to do sometimes."

"We got your back," Mo told Cherry. "Just make sure you have ours. Besides, the ogres already took off for the mission while we were knocked out."

"All right then," Cherry said. "So we'll make a plan of our own."

"And what plan is that?" Patch asked.

"I'll let ya know once I think of it." Cherry replied.

Patch then face-pawed.

"Just hear me out, okay?" Cherry replied. "I might be the lazy drag-along on certain adventures, but I can be helpful when I want to be."

"Hopefully this is one of those times." Atticus replied.


	7. Chapter 7

Later, at Rumpelstiltskin's castle, the gate opened with some of the witches coming out, holding lanterns, then the carriage, being pulled by Fifi. Fiona was leading the ogres, all clad in armor, through the forest to be ready for the ambush. 

Shrek was trying to make his way through the ogre army. "Excuse me. Coming through! Pardon me, guys! Watch your back." he called.

The group soon came to help out a bit as Rumple was finishing up his little power nap.

Bringing up the rear, Puss, riding a small cart pulled by Donkey, spotted Cookie's chimichanga cart up ahead.

"Look, Donkey, the chimichanga cart! Quick!" Puss beamed as he bounced on Donkey's back. "Andale! After him, burro! Donkey, vamonos!"

"Man, you are a _cat_ -astrophe!" Donkey complained.

"And you are ri- _donkey_ -lous!" Puss retorted.

The two shared a glare before they suddenly burst out laughing, finding both of their puns funny as the army came to the edge of the forest.

"Oi." Atticus and Patch rolled their eyes.

"I'll scout ahead," Fiona told the others as she went up ahead as the rest soon went to take positions to hide. "Wait for my signal."

"And Shrek comes in trying to explain to Fiona in 3, 2, 1." Atticus cued.

Cherry rolled her eyes.

"What?" Atticus asked her.

"I just wish you would stop doing that." Cherry told him.

"Sorry." Atticus shrugged.

"And yet you keep doing it." Cherry muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Secure your positions!" Brogan told the other ogres.

The other ogres climbed up into some trees, and others disguised themselves as bushes and rocks.

* * *

Fiona then climbed to the top of a slope where the carriage was meant to be arriving.

"It's quite a view from up here." said Shrek, startling Fiona.

"What are you doing?! Get back in position!" she snapped.

"You need to know, once and for all, who I really am." Shrek told her.

"You are going to ruin everything!" Fiona snapped.

"Ruin everything?" replied Shrek. "Actually, I'm gonna fix everything: the ogres, Rumple, your curse..." He suddenly found a dagger at his throat.

"How do you know about my curse?!" Fiona glared.

"Okay, okay, please, Fiona," Shrek told the ogress in defense. "Just hear me out. I can explain everything."

* * *

Meanwhile, because of Shrek distracting her, neither of the two saw the carriage and witches, who were flying on their broomsticks, arriving this way while the rest of the ogres were still awaiting Fiona's signal.

"Where's Fiona's signal?" Brogan asked the others.

"What's she waiting for?" Gretched added.

"He's going to get away!" Cookie panicked.

"No, he's not." Brogan narrowed his eyes as he decided to give a signal of his own to one of the other ogres who had the rope.

That ogre nodded, pulling the rope, which two of the witches flew into, knocking them off their brooms. The ogre army then yelled as they charged at the carriage, taking down some more witches along the way, and then ripping the carriage apart, chunk by chunk. However, to their surprise and confusion, the twisted little imp was not there. Then Fifi, who looked more wooden than real, let out a flute-like squeak rather than a honk, to the ogres' notice. Then they saw "Fifi" come apart, revealing to be the Pied Piper in a wooden Fifi disguise. He whipped out his flute halves, placing them together, and beginning to play it.

"You ogres are in trouble now~" Thor smirked mockingly as he appeared from nowhere.

"That flute thing is set to control ogres," Lionel informed the others. "The piper could make it take over our minds, so we'd better put on these music-filtering headphones; that way we can still hear each other, but not the music." He handed out headphones to each of the group.

"Now let's go get Thor," Patch replied. "Go! Go! Go!"

The group then charged on their own.

"Keep working, witches!" Thor glared at Hilda and Zelda. "You wanna help, you pull your weight around or answer to me!"

"He seems like such a nice boy." Zelda frowned.

"I just wonder if we're too wicked for our own good," Hilda frowned back. "Have we gotten as bad as Elphaba from Oz?"

Cherry soon slowly raised up from right behind Thor.

"Eh?" Thor glared as he turned around at her.

Cherry hissed like a stereotypical vampire and soon lunged out at him, tackling him to the ground as the two tumbled and spun around together before he soon got the upper hand and decided to sit down right on top of her, trapping her instantly.

"Nice try," Thor smirked as he tried to squish her as hard as he could. "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. Do I look like I was born yesterday, girly?"

"BANZAI, RAT FINK!" Patch shouted as he leapt onto Thor's head.

"Hey! Get off, you dumb dog!" Thor exclaimed as he let go of Cherry to swat at Patch. While he was busy trying to pull Patch off, Lionel shot from the bushes and clung to his back. "OW!" Atticus and Mo soon had him by the legs as he toppled over and was now squirming around. "Get off me! Rumple will have your heads for this!" he grunted.

Cherry stepped onto his stomach and glanced down. "Yeeeeahhhh... Not gonna happen." she said dryly as she reached down and put her hand on Thor's chest.

At that point, the whole group's eyes began glowing with a bright light. Various memories flashed through Thor's brain.

"I think we should pray that this works." Atticus suggested.

"Sure, you can pray, but I oughta just wait things out." Cherry said to him.

"Just trying to be positive." Atticus shrugged.

"You be positive, I'll be realistic." Cherry retorted.

"Glad to see that things are back to normal for you two." Lionel smirked.

Thor began to slowly remember everything, especially his friendship with Cherry and the others, though they ended up in the Dream Realm hallways. "I remember everything about you guys," he said softly. "I'm so sorry if I hurt any of you."

"Not your fault, Thor," Patch replied. "You were just corrupted by this awful timeline."

"So, you go into dreams?" Thor asked Cherry.

"Yeah?" Cherry nodded, glancing at him.

"I've had this dream for as long as I can remember and I have no idea what it means," Thor said. "I keep seeing this man and woman... They had a baby, but I don't know who they are and someone in the shadows took the baby away from them and walked away down a long hallway... And I always wake up before I can recognize anything or anyone in specific."

"I think I can piece that together," Lionel stated. "The man and woman are your parents, you're the infant, and the guy who took you is Rumple. Technically speaking, in this timeline, Rumple stole you from your parents."

"What...?" Thor asked.

Cherry soon thought of something and brought everyone to the Dream Realm.

"Whoa." Atticus and Patch said once they came into the Dream Realm Hallway.

Cherry soon walked over to Thor's door and gestured for the others to follow after him as they saw some glowing from behind the door before they were engulfed by the bright light and they soon came to see Thor's current dream.

* * *

_We are soon shown a hospital bedroom as a woman with dark purple hair was lying down in bed with a dark-haired man who squeezed her hand before they soon heard the crying of a newborn baby. Once Lionel's theory was put to the test, it was a bit clear that the couple were Zolten and Moxie Moltenscar: Thor's parents and Thor was the baby who was born and wrapped up in a blue blanket._

_"We'll see you soon, baby..." Moxie smiled wearily as she lightly patted the top of her newborn son's head as he was taken, thought of to be cleaned up by the doctor, but..._

_"I'm afraid not, my dear~" An eerily familiar voice smirked as he came into the room, showing himself._

_"Rumplestiltskin," Moxie gasped as she reached for her baby. "I thought you were imprisoned back in The Fairy Tale Realm."_

_"Once again, afraid not, dearie~," Rumple smirked as he snapped his fingers, teleporting Thor away from the doctor and soon held in his arms securely. "Your precious big brother and I made a deal that a child close to him would be sacrificed and seeing as you just made him an uncle, that means this little tyke... You've brought this out on yourselves."_

_"Give me back MY SON!" Zolten glared as he rushed over only to be shot away with a stronger blast of magic, sending him flying._

_"Good try, Zolten baby, really good try..." Rumple grinned as he soon giggled darkly and soon got away with Thor._

"My parents didn't die..." Thor gasped in horror. "Rumplestiltskin took me from them."

"Ding-ding-ding! Give the kid a blue ribbon and a peck on the cheek!" Lionel exclaimed, patting Thor on the head. "Glad ya figured it out, hombré!"

Thor smiled softly before frowning.

"...Yeah, at what cost, right?" Lionel then said.

"I just... I can't believe..." Thor said before shaking his head. "Rumplestiltskin took me away when I was a baby."

"Yeah, Rumplestiltskin kinda does that," Cherry replied, going based on original Fairy Tales anyway. "He'll give you whatever you desire the most with magic, but then all magic comes with a price, and then he'll trick you into what you desire and make it come back to bite you in the butt, and then," she then changed her voice into a high-pitched, gremlin-like voice. "'One way or another, I will _have_ your baby~'"

The others looked at her funny.

"...Yeah, that wording makes it sound awkward, but you know what I mean." Cherry then said in her normal voice.

"I think we got it," replied Mo with a nod. "But those ogres are all about to get it, since they've all caught a nasty case of dance fever!"

"All thanks to the Pied Piper." Thor noted.

"The Pied Piper?" The group asked.

"I know, it sounds silly and he doesn't sound threatening, especially as a bounty hunter, but he has this magic pipe that has any setting possible that can make any victim follow him like those rats in his story." Thor explained.

"This is bad." Atticus simply said.

"How do we stop it?" Mo asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know about all of that, but we can at least try to find out together." Thor suggested.

"We must do something before they fandango themselves into oblivion!" Puss exclaimed.

"What can we do?" Donkey asked.

"First, you must stop dancing!" Puss told him, since he was busy getting down.

"When somebody tooties that fluty, I got to shake my booty!" Donkey replied.

"Then it's up to me!" The cat declared, revealing his claws and jamming them into Donkey's flank. 

The sudden shock made Donkey neigh with fright, sending him careening into action.

"Well, those guys have the right idea," Lionel shrugged. "I say we follow their lead!"

"Follow their lead?" The others repeated.

"That's what I said!" Lionel replied.

"Okay!" The others then said as they went to try and do that.

The group soon charged after Puss and Donkey as the ogres had their hands full, metaphorically speaking of course.

* * *

"Puss, tell us that you have a plan!" Cherry called out to the former feline bandit.

Donkey soon knocked Shrek and Fiona out of the line and onto the cart, racing away. Despite them being away from the Piper, the two ogres still pointed their fingers out like in a disco dance.

"Hurry!" Puss soon alerted the others. "We must get them away from the music!"

"Puss and Donkey to the rescue!" Donkey cheered as he came to charge. "We saved the day!"

"Donkey, look out!" Cherry warned as she saw something coming up ahead.

Donkey turned around to see that they were headed for a large chasm; unfortunately, he couldn't stop in time, and everyone screamed in terror as they veered over the edge and landed in the water. Thanks to the group's magic, they all managed to climb out of the water; Puss couldn't lick his own back, so he had to convince Donkey to help him.

"Stop!" Shrek called as he saw Fiona heading up the path to a bridge and holding the lantern. "Where are you going?"

"To save my friends." Fiona said firmly.

"How? By getting yourself killed?" retorted Shrek.

"If that's what it takes." Fiona replied.

"Ouch." Atticus said, though not in pain, just sucking his teeth at the bitter atmosphere.

"Puss, say something." Shrek prompted the cat.

"Puss?" Fiona asked as she turned around.

"You never heard him talk before?" Atticus asked.

"L-L-L-Let me explain." Puss stammered nervously to the ogress.

"No, I just see that this is how your friend here knows so much about me." Fiona narrowed her eyes as she went to storm off and cross the bridge from up above them.

"Fiona, wait!" Shrek begged as he hopped up onto the bridge. "Kiss me."

"What?" Fiona glared.

"It's the only way to save your friends." Atticus told Fiona.

"All of you get out of my way." Fiona glared as she shoved Shrek out of the way.

"You used to believe that a single kiss could solve everything!" Shrek called out to her.

Fiona soon stopped dead in her tracks and she slowly turned around before she came up to him and soon decided to kiss him right on the lips just to get it over with. The group watched with bated breath, curious to see if that would truly fix everything, but when Shrek opened his eyes, he saw that nothing was changed. Fiona drew back, a bitter expression on her face.

"I don't understand," said Shrek. "This doesn't make any sense. True love's kiss was supposed to fix everything!"

"Yeah, you know, that's what they told me, too. True love didn't get me out of that tower," Fiona remarked. "I did. I saved myself. Don't you get it? It's all just a big fairy tale."

"Fiona, don't say that," said Shrek. "It _does_ exist!"

"How would you know? Did you grow up locked away in a dragon's keep?" Fiona glared. "Did you live all alone in a miserable tower? Did you cry yourself to sleep every night, waiting for a true love that never came?!"

"But... But _I'm_ your true love." Shrek told her.

"Then where were you when I needed you?" Fiona said coldly, as she turned, picked up her lantern, and walked off.

Shrek only stood there, completely heartbroken.

"Maybe you kissed her wrong?" asked Donkey.

"No. The kiss didn't work... Because Fiona doesn't love me." the ogre said sadly.

"I'd say that sounds about right." Cherry clarified.

"And it looks like we're too late in saving the other ogres." Thor said as he looked around.

"Great," Cherry sighed. "I'd ask how it could possibly get worse after that, but I don't wanna give Rumplestiltskin more of a fighting chance to make my life into even more of a living Hell."

Just then, the Magic Mirror's face appeared. "Attention, citizens. Please stay tuned for a message from our tyrannical dictator!" he announced.

The face vanished, replaced by Rumplestilskin. _**"Hello, people,"**_ he smiled. **_"It is I, Rumplestiltskin: shepherd of your dreams. Recently, a certain somebody has jeopardized our joyous lives,"_ **His tone grew angry as the background became fiery and red. **_"And that somebody is the rat-munching ogre called Shrek!"_** As he said this, a picture of Shrek, Donkey, and Alpha Brigade appeared. **_"That is why I come to you, dear citizens. For whomever brings me this ogre, shall receive the deal of a lifetime,"_** he then said as his tone became calm again. **_"Just think of it! Total and complete happiness. Dazzling, radiant fulfillment! All your greatest wishes, your wildest dreams, anything you could ever want! No strings attached! But hurry, this is a limited-time offer, so light your torches, sharpen your pitchforks, AND GET YOUR MOB ON!"_**

"...And now we have an angry mob after Shrek." Patch remarked.

"Different, but the same." Lionel noted.

"More or less, I guess." Cherry replied.

The message got through to all citizens of Far Far Away as they all got their pitchforks and torches and began storming through the kingdom to hunt down Shrek, capture him and get their reward.

"Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!" The mob jeered as they came for the once famous and popular ogre who was now feared and hated. "Go back where you came from!" They then passed a brick wall. If they had stayed a little longer, they would have seen the group, Shrek, Donkey, and Puss come out of hiding.

"Phew! That's a close one." Atticus sighed in relief.

"Yeah, it looks a lot less pitchforky and torchy out there," Donkey added. "Let's go."

"What's the point?" Shrek sulked. "The kiss didn't work. It's over."

Cherry sighed sharply. "Look, Shrek, I know things might seem a little bleak right now, but things always work themselves out in the end, you'll see." she then said to him.

"She's right," Donkey nodded in agreement. "I bet by this time tomorrow--"

"Don't you understand?! There is no tomorrow!" Shrek shouted in frustration and depression. "There's no day after that, and there's no day after THAT day after that! My life was perfect and I'm never going to get it back!"

The others frowned softly as that sounded like a lot of trouble.

"...If your life was so perfect, why'd you sign it away to Rumplestiltskin?" Donkey soon asked.

"Because I didn't know what I had until it was gone!" Shrek replied firmly through the pain he was feeling. "All right? I didn't know what I had." he then sighed.

"I guess you've felt like that, Cherry?" Patch guessed. "You may not smile a lot or act like you care about what's going on, but I'm a dog, an excellent judge of character, so I can tell that there's more to you than we all realize. You hurt inside... You try to brush off your own insecurities by making fun of us so you can take the pressure off yourself..."

Cherry didn't say anything, though she seemed to agree with the Dalmatian.

"We're going to help you and the best thing about these adventures is that you never have to be or feel alone ever." Patch continued sincerely.

"Good dog." Atticus whispered proudly as he petted his dog proudly.

Patch beamed before he then went to lick Cherry's face, even if she hated that sometimes.

Cherry looked emotional as she suddenly thought more about what was just said to her as she rubbed her cheek before she came to approach Shrek. "The thing about our lives is we don't realize that the pain in the necks shortly become very valuable and important in our lives and bond with you throughout life and are there for you until the very end no matter what," she then said to him. "Sometimes you feel like you don't need them in your lives, but once you realize that you're all alone, you really need them..."

* * *

_Suddenly, one of Cherry's memories began to play of when she was in the orphanage and having a one-person birthday party and she was the only one there._

_"Sweetie, it's getting late, you should go to bed..." One of the adults told a very young Cherry._

_Young Cherry looked stoic at first like whenever she meets new people before she began to feel a little hurt and looked ready to cry._

"Sometimes you feel like you're destined to be alone... Forever..." Cherry narrated as her younger self looked depressed as a song called "Someday, We'll Be Together" by Diana Ross & The Supremes began to play.

_Young Cherry began to walk off to go back to her room as she threw down her party hat, looking depressed and lonely as she passed by the hallway to go back to her own room._

* * *

_The room she passed had a young brown-haired boy with blue eyes who was reading a Superman comic book by his window with a candle as he tried to brave the storm outside his window._

_"Atticus, dear, you should be in bed." A woman's voice said to him as he looked over before he kept reading._

* * *

_We are then shown outside in the middle of an alley where a young brunette girl was hugging a puppy dog as they were both trying to stay warm and comfortable inside a cardboard box with a blanket and a couple of pillows as the scene panned out over to a faraway apartment building where a family of three: a man, a woman, and their young blonde-haired daughter._

_"Oh, Sabrina, you're so pretty and wonderful..." A brown-haired man beamed as he ruffled up his blonde daughter's hair._

_"We love you very much." A blonde woman smiled as she kissed the girl's cheek._

* * *

_Panning by a desk in a room of the apartment complex had a **Super** **Mario Bros.** video game and it soon showed a video game screen before a very small, black-haired boy who was a bit older than he looked was playing a Mario game until he paused the game and he soon rushed over and laughed as he saw someone coming to see him as they hugged._

_There were then marks shown on the wall with a growth chart of some sorts by the door with the name "THOR" on the wall._

_"Ooh, you're getting big, Pipsqueak." An adult man teased and ruffled up the boy's hair._

* * *

_A brown-haired girl with glasses was shown to be asleep with the full moon out her window as she was reading a **Harry Potter** book with a flashlight, smiling before a howling was heard outside the window._

* * *

_The scene then shows Pongo and Perdita lying together as the 15 puppies were just born and were now taking their mother's milk after being counted for Roger and Anita during the rainstorm._

* * *

_And finally, there was a certain boy in a Bat-Mite costume on the couch, sitting and watching some TV with snacks surrounding him, though he appeared to be all on his own with nothing else going on in his life before we go back to where Cherry was now in Present Day._

* * *

"Thankfully... I was wrong." Cherry soon said as she was shown to be surrounded by her friends once the montage ended.

Lionel sniffled as he wiped his eyes. "Aw... You know those flashbacks get me all choked up inside!" he smiled.

"Cherry... I had no idea you felt like that..." Mo said softly.

"I tend to be secretive about how I feel," Cherry replied with a small shrug. "I even tried to never cry or feel hurt because that way I wouldn't ever get hurt, but I learned something on that."

"Yeah?" Atticus asked.

"Trying to avoid feeling hurt hurts worse than actually getting hurt," Cherry admitted. "Strange, is it not?"

"I have to agree." Atticus nodded.

"Oh, definitely," Lionel nodded. "Speaking for myself _and_ co-writer."

Shrek looked down and saw Gingy prodding him with his lollipop.

"Surrender now!" The gingerbread man shouted. "I'm taking you in!"

Atticus, Cherry, Lionel, Mo, Thor, and Patch looked at each other once they saw the gingerbread man trying to be tough and scary before they soon laughed a little together, unable to resist.

"WHAT?!" Gingy complained.

"Sorry, Gingy, but you're gonna have to try a little bit better than that." Cherry teased with a smirk.

Of course, Shrek was not affected by this at all. He just stood there with a dry look as Gingy kept attacking and shouting.

"Don't try to fight it, ogre!" Gingy continued despite not being threatening in the slightest. "The reward is mine!

"Gingy?" Shrek asked as he picked the gingerbread man up.

"You unhand me, green devil!" Gingy glared at him.

"What are you doing?" Shrek asked.

"Collecting my bounty!" Gingy glowered.

"Bounty?" The others asked.

"What are you talking about, cracker?" Donkey scoffed.

"Rumplestiltskin promised the deal of a lifetime for whoever could bring you in." Gingy explained.

"Deal of a lifetime?" Shrek asked.

"Where all your wishes come true." Gingy nodded.

Shrek pondered, until he got an idea. "Wait a minute... I can still fix this." he realized.

"Now, how you gonna do that?" Donkey asked as Shrek set Gingy down.

"You know what? I'm gonna give Rumplestiltskin exactly what he wants," remarked Shrek. "Okay, Gingy, tell me about this--" But to his surprise, there were only crumbs and a gumdrop button on the ground. He then looked over and saw Puss just finishing up eating a certain someone. 

The cat noticed the ogre looking at him, and gave a sheepish look. "...Were you going to eat that?" he asked.

The group let out a collective face-palm at that notion.

* * *

Inside the castle, the citizens came with prisoners of theirs, and none of them were Shrek, as the dictator pointed out while pacing and inspecting each one. One citizen even brought in a bag of flour with a scary green face painted on it. Hilda and Zelda were shown to be trying to sneak out of the castle to finally get away from Rumplestiltskin once and for all, luckily for them, he was distracted right now.

"When I see Salem again, I'm gonna kill him for losing us in that card game." Hilda glowered.

"I just don't wanna be wicked anymore," Zelda sighed. "If only we could use our powers for good somehow... Maybe we'll adopt a child and try to teach them how to use their magic responsibly and without being a wicked witch like Elphaba or Della."

"Maybe, but who knows when that might even happen?" Hilda shrugged.

Rumple soon came to examine the people who brought in "Shrek" or so they had claimed as he looked very frustrated and annoyed with their efforts. "Not Shrek! That is not Shrek! Also not Shrek!" He then saw Butter Pants and his father with a big green creature they captured. "That's not even an ogre, it is a troll! Nice try," he then saw the next one which was the Big Bad Wolf wearing a Shrek head over his own as The Three Little Pigs tried to capture him. "And that... Is just sad," He then spotted Pinocchio with his father, dressed in Shrek's clothes and fake ogre ears, with his face painted green and hands tied by a rope that the puppet was holding. "And what is _that_ supposed to be?" The imp then asked, severally unimpressed.

"I'm just a frightened old man." Gepetto gulped.

"Don't listen to him!" Pinocchio defended. "These ogres are crafty!"

"That is your father painted green." Rumple deadpanned.

"No, it's Shrek! Honest!" Pinocchio retorted only for his nose to grow and hit the imp in the face, making the deal maker shout in pain as he swatted it out of his face.

"Take them away!" Rumple commanded before he went over to his table. "Can no one bring me Shrek?! Where is he? How hard can it be?!" He then angrily pounded on his table like a two-year-old. " **I WANT HIM! I WANT HIM! I WANT HIM!** "

Just then, the doors burst open. "STILSKIN!"

Rumple turned and saw that Shrek was standing right before him. "I heard you been looking for me."

"All right! Finally!" The little man grinned. "Who turned him in? Who gets the deal of a lifetime?"

"I do," Shrek retorted as he took the contract from Rumple. "If I'm turning myself in, I get the deal of a lifetime," he plucked a feather from Fifi and dipped it into the magic ink jar. "That means you have to give me anything I want."

The scared villain leaped onto the table, stopping him from signing it. "No, no, no! Only true love's kiss can break your contract! So if you thought you were just gonna doot-doot-doot in here and get your life back--"

Shrek stopped him. "I'm not here to get my life back."

Rumple glared. "Then what _do_ you want?" he asked.

* * *

Outside the castle, Donkey, Puss, and the others waited before all the ogres of the resistance magically appeared, one-by-one, and dropped from the sky.

"The ogres," Puss noticed. "They are all free."

"Everybody's here." Thor smiled.

"Everybody except for one," Donkey said to him. "Where is Shrek?"

They all went up to the gates, knowing Shrek was still inside.

"This is not good." Puss groaned a bit.

"Shrek sacrificed himself for us," Cherry realized. "I guess he's better than I even realized."

Hilda and Zelda were soon sneaking along.

"WITCHES!" The ogres roared out suddenly.

"Whoa! Easy!" Hilda said.

"Yeah, guys, it's just a cook and a maid," Cherry said before recognizing the adult witches. "Wait... Hilda and Zelda?"

"Yes?" The Spellman sisters replied.

"So..." Cherry narrowed her eyes. "Trying to trick us into trusting you like we do back home so you can lure us into our deaths?" she then asked firmly. "I bet Rumplestiltskin sent you here so you can shove us all in a stove and make us into some kinda stew, huh?"

"Goodness, no!" Zelda replied, sounding a bit horrified. "We're actually trying to go back home, even if it's, well... Friend is putting it lightly, made us end up in this mess with that twisted little imp."

"Well, that's just it," Lionel said coldly. "Why exactly should I trust you? You two treated me like a slave for most of my life and terrorized me."

"That was _you_?" Hilda asked. "We had no idea!"

"Not to mention where I come from, you two act like mentors to me and my friends, one of which is your niece." Cherry soon said.

"I have a niece?" Hilda and Zelda asked in unison.

"Yeah, your brother's daughter, Sabrina," Cherry said to them. "She's a very good friend of mine and you take care of her and train her how to use her magic responsibly and even let me and my other friends hang out with her... And feel safe, ya know? Your house just... Made me feel like I was part of the family, even if Salem was a pain in the butt sometimes."

"Oh, don't tell me we're still bothered with that pathetic excuse of a warlock," Zelda rolled her eyes. "He bet us in a card game against Rumplestiltskin with his so-called friend, Diamond Dave, and now we live here as that imp's housemaid and chef."

"I know you're mad at them and you guys are mad at Salem, but we all share a common enemy: Rumplestiltskin," Cherry said. "You have to help me help Shrek and then we can _all_ live happily ever after and we'll never have to worry about this world ever again."

"Alright..." Lionel replied. "We'll put our heads together and undo this reality."

"I suppose we could do that before we try to find a way out on our own after we just escaped." Hilda said to Zelda.

"Good enough for me," Zelda shrugged. "I guess we should just be thankful that we didn't run into Tim the Witch Smeller."

The Spellman sisters then shuddered in memory of that horrible man. Cherry soon walked over a bit.

"You're sacrificing yourself too?" Atticus asked.

"I think I might do a little spy work just to see what we're getting ourselves into." Cherry said before she soon walked off and got down on her hands and knees before she disappeared in a puff of purple smoke and suddenly turned into a cat, nearly looking like her kitten, Cleo.

"Good luck!" Lionel waved to her as she slunk away.

Cherry nodded as she soon took off running in her new cat form.

"Hola, chica~" Puss smirked at her.

"Don't even think about it." Cherry glared on the way out.

* * *

Back in the throne room, the villagers had left, and Rumple was leading Shrek, who had his hands shackled, to a dungeon room, with four witches encircling the prisoner and pointing their brooms at him. "I don't know. Not much of a storybook ending," he then said mockingly to the ogre. "The noble Shrek turns himself in to save a bunch of filthy ogres."

"All that matters is that they're free, and Fiona is safe," Shrek retorted bravely. "And maybe Cherry and her friends will be spared from your insane rule."

"Awww, I bet Fiona would be really touched to hear that, but, hey, I guess you can tell her yourself." Rumple smirked at Shrek as Cherry came in through a window and began to stalk around as quiet and as stealthy as possible.

Fiona was soon revealed and shown to be shackled as well, struggling to get out.

"Fiona!" Shrek cried once he saw the ogress he loved.

Both ogres rushed to each other, but the weight of the shackles and chains held them back. They tried breaking free from them to no avail. Rumple only cackled maniacally as he watched the two ogres struggle to reach each other in failed attempts to his pure wicked amusement.

"Oh, you sick little monkey!" Cherry hissed.

"You said you would free all the ogres!" Shrek declared.

"Yeah, but Fiona _isn't_ all ogre, _is_ she?" Rumple replied as he skipped out of the room. "Nobody's smart but _me_!~"

"Oh, yes, you're _super_ smart..." Cherry rolled her eyes in deadpan.

Rumple soon passed right by her, luckily not seeing her as he left with his witches.

Cherry ducked down and shivered, trying to stay hidden before glancing over as he left the ogres alone. "Phew..." she then sighed in relief, he hadn't seen her and she soon peeked her head out to see Shrek and Fiona in distress.

"That was a really brave thing you did, Shrek," Fiona said to the ogre. "Thank you."

"No, you were right. I wasn't there for you," Shrek said softly. "And not just at the Dragon's Keep, but... Every day since."

"Well... You're here now." Fiona smiled sadly.

"So sweet..." Cherry said before looking to the nearest window. "Well, I better go and tell the others what's going on and maybe get them to help somehow. I don't think even my own magic can get me out of this one." So she slipped out through the bars and slunk back to her friends.

* * *

**_MEANWHILE, AT THAT SAME TIME..._ **

"Let go of me! I have got to save Shrek!" Donkey shouted, trying to head inside.

"Don't be a fool, mule!" Gretched told him.

"She's right," Brogan nodded. "Rumpel's palace is locked up tighter than Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard."

"And that cupboard wasn't guarded by a whole bunch of mean, ugly, nasty witches." Cookie added.

"Hey! We can hear you!" One witch who was guarding from up above called out.

"Sorry!" Brogan called back.

Cherry soon hopped down and luckily landed on her feet once she ended up back on the ground and came back to the others before she disappeared in a puff of purple smoke again, though she was still on her hands and knees and was still arching like a cat due to the spell.

"Cherry, you're back," Thor smiled. "How did it go?"

"Well, as I guessed, Rumplestiltskin freed all of the ogres except for Shrek _and_ Fiona," Cherry replied. "We need to get in there and save them without damaging even more of Far, Far Away."

"Man, Shrek, you guys, and me just busted out of that place!" Donkey complained.

"I'm sorry, Donkey, but that's the best idea I have." Cherry defended.

"I say we give that little nitwit a taste of his own medicine." Mo declared.

"Exactly my thought too, Mo," Cherry nodded. "But we'll need a plan before we go in and do it right away."

"Agreed." Atticus replied.

"But how?" Brogan wondered.

Donkey then saw a shield, and it gave him an idea. "The same way we're gonna bust in." he then said thoughtfully.

"Count us in." Hilda and Zelda added as they came beside the group.

"There's the old Hilda and Zelda Spellman I know and love." Cherry beamed at the adult witches.

"So let's DO IT TO IT!" Lionel declared, as everyone got into a huddle.

"And those are the friends that I know and love." Cherry then nodded.

Thor beamed before hugging Cherry and she actually welcomed it before they split up and got into the huddle together. The two palace guard witches got curious, wondering what they're talking about.

"What're the Smellman sisters doing with those rejects?" One witch asked the other.

"Who cares?" The other scoffed.

* * *

A while later, Rumple wore his speech wig back on for some reason (though it looked untidy), walked back in the throne room, as a witch was hoisting up what appeared to be a new big decorative ball like the one from earlier. "I wonder where that warlock brat ran off to? Eh... No matter... Yay! My new pretty ball!" he then cheered before he then suddenly noticed that something about this ball was different than the previous one. "Didn't it look bigger in the catalog? I guess it'll have to do." he then shrugged at himself.

Once the witches got it up, some other witches poured magic glowing dust in their cauldrons, causing bright, glowing, blue, and pink lights to appear. They pointed their cauldrons like spotlights at the big ball, which began reflecting the bright colorful lights off like a disco ball.

"Witches, finally, the moment we've all been waiting for," announced Rumple. "The main event of the evening!"

The floors under him began shifting, revealing something. It was Shrek and Fiona still bound in shackles and chained to the walls, with a spotlight shining down on them.

"I present Shrek and Fiona!" Rumple announced with a manic grin on his face.

The ogre prisoners were both glaring at the twisted little imp and the horde of witches up above peering down at them, and the witches all booed and jeered the ogres.

"And now, to put the past behind us once and for all, I give ya a princess's worst nightmare!" Rumple then said before a gate in the dungeon was soon opening up to show a familiar red dragon storming in. "Dragon!"

Dragon let out a huge roar and then started breathing fire. She stomped about, getting ready to finish her prisoners as Rumple laughed heartlessly, enjoying the ogres' soon-to-be demise.

"Hit it, Donkey!" Cherry's voice called out. "Woo your lady!"

"Ugh, you owe me big time for this, Four Eyes!" Donkey's voice complained.

"What? That dream brat?" Rumple glared as he looked around as he thought he heard Cherry's voice.

"Winter, spring, summer, or fall~" Donkey's voice soon began to sing as he was soon shown to be on top of the big ball to lure and woo Dragon.

Everyone else gasped once they saw him there.

"All you got to do is call, And I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah~" Donkey continued to sing.

Shrek looked up in shock. "Donkey?"

"And Puss!" Donkey exclaimed; on cue, though very slowly, Puss slid down the rope holding the ball, and this time, he was wearing his hat, cape and boots.

"In Boots!" The cat declared, as he did a little dance on the ball, which emanated a rumbling from within.

"What...?" asked Rumple.

Suddenly, the ball broke open like a pinata, and all the ogres, Atticus, Patch, Mo, Lionel, and Thor burst from inside.

"COWABUNGA!" Lionel shouted, spinning a pair of nunchucks.

Atticus stomped the ground and cracked his neck. Thor soon did the same as he laughed since that tickled him before glaring with a serious look on his face. Mo's hands soon slammed on the floor as vines began to grow out, looking ready to grab and tangle Rumplestiltskin with. Patch growled aggressively and he snarled while trying to look as brave and serious as his idol: Thunderbolt.

"What?" Rumple asked, a bit surprised and concerned.

The whole thing turned out to be a Trojan horse reenactment with the resistance ogres using their shields to make it convincing. Cherry soon dropped right down in front of Rumple and glared, looking him dead in the eye.

"Heh... Hello, dearie... My, you look lovely today~..." Rumple grinned nervously. "What if I made you the new Queen of Far, Far Away?"

Cherry smirked at him before she started laughing. Rumple then laughed nervously with her.

Cherry then stopped before she pointed at him and looked at the others. "Get 'em." she then told her group like a war leader.

"With pleasure, my queen." Lionel chuckled as he and the others lunged at Rumple, ready to beat him senseless.

"AYEE!" Rumple shrieked. "Protect me!"

Brogan leaped out towards where Rumple was, making the dictator scream as he ran for it. Brogan rose his club, ready to strike the villain, but one of the witches flew by on her broomstick, scooping up her master and taking him to the higher balcony, dropping him there. Rumple jumped onto the railing and looked down at the chaos in horror. Puss and Donkey meanwhile saw Dragon returning her attention to the ogres, snarling like mad and ready to attack again, but Puss then cut the rope of the platform he and Donkey were on, sending them falling and screaming, but they landed on Dragon's head, knocking her down for the count. Hilda and Zelda soon joined in, showing their own fighting skills as they helped out the group as Atticus and Thor began to wrestle some of the witches, Mo tied them up with her vines, and Patch began to bark loudly, scaring some witches up some trees and even threatened to bite some of them.

"Get away from me, boy!" Rumple told Lionel before running into Thor and looked up at him. "Thor... Thank goodness..." he then grinned innocently. "These bad people want to hurt Uncle Rumple... But you'll make them go away like a good boy, yes?"

"I think Uncle Rumple is going to be bowled over." Thor narrowed his eyes firmly at the imp as he began to hug his knees.

"What?!" Rumple asked before he suddenly got rolled over as Thor rolled over him like a bowling ball.

"And that is called a strike, you turkey!" Thor snapped. "That's for what you did to Mom, Dad, and Uncle Drell!"

Rumple groaned as he pulled himself off the ground, only for Lionel to whack him out of frame with a golf club. " **FOOOOORE!!** "

Cherry was shown to be sitting in a throne with a blanket, pillow, and some refreshments.

"We're sorry, Cherry, would you like a swing?" Atticus asked as he came by.

"No, no, I'm good, continue." Cherry reassured.

"All right, Cherry, you take a break and relax." Atticus nodded and soon went back to helping the ogres and their friends.

"I think that's just what I'll do." Cherry said, looking a bit peaceful and sleepy before she began to yawn.

And so, the fight continued to rage on, as Cherry dozed off, and her body started to glow a bright purple color.

"Donkey, woo her!" Shrek soon called out to his best friend.

"Woo who?" Donkey asked out of confusion.

"Your wife!" Shrek told him.

Speaking of whom, Dragon growled as she stomped behind the fear-stricken Donkey. He timidly turned, screaming a bit. Then suddenly the lights changed to blue as Donkey's fearful expression changed to a smooth charmer expression, with the donkey trying his best to woo the reptile, who's look of anger began to fade, as if the charm was working. Donkey then gave a grin, and Dragon batted her eyelashes lovingly. At this time, a certain Lionel Richie song played as the two were about to kiss until Dragon's mouth opened wide around Donkey.

"Uh-oh." Donkey gulped.

Then in one chomp, Donkey ended up in the female dragon's mouth. Puss then leaped onto the dragon's spine, grabbed his sword and jabbed it right into the back, making the dragon roar and spit out Donkey, who was sent flying in the air.

"Wahoo!" Donkey cheered before he then hitched a ride onto a passing witch's broomstick. "I'll call you!" he then called out to the female dragon before smiling at Zelda. "We're in love!"

"Good for you," Zelda smiled. "Now everybody has a love interest except for me." she then added as she rolled her eyes to herself.

"Give it a while!" Mo called.

* * *

Back below, the dragon spotted the fat cat and just as she tried to eat him, he leaped out of the way, shouting in excitement. He rode her tail, which she swished around like mad, hitting a wall where Shrek was, and the ogre ducked in time. Then Dragon flicked the screeching fat cat off her tail, and Fiona caught him in her arms. Fiona gasped, knowing Dragon was coming for them, so she turned away, getting ready for the blow and Dragon exhaled the biggest breath of flame from her mouth. She then saw that Fiona and Puss were no longer there, then spotted the ogre being lifted up by the chains, thanks to Shrek pulling on the chains with his wrists, and Puss was holding onto Fiona's back.

"Fiona, hold on!" Shrek called out to his wife before calling out to the female dragon that liked Donkey. "Hey, you!"

Dragon snarled and she soon went chasing after him as he continued pulling on the chains.

"Whoa!" Shrek called out.

Then Shrek and Fiona ended up swinging around on both chains all around the room, and each time they got near Dragon's mouth, she tried to eat them, only to miss. Then both ogres each reached a dangling cage. Shrek reached out his hand, and Fiona swung a bit, taking his hand. Back above, witches kept launching skull chains at the ogres, pulling them up, though no matter how many skull chains ensnared Brogan, he did his best to resist. He even grabbed some of the chains and tossed some of the witches who had them down. Then, on the balcony, the short villain saw chimichangas being fired at some of the witches near him.

"Chimichangas?!" Rumple asked in disgust and shock.

Down below, Cookie was launching the aforementioned sticky foods from his cart/catapult. "Get 'em while they're hot!" he then called out as he even launched one at the witch that Donkey was riding with.

Rumple grinned darkly as he left the crowd and towered over Cherry since she was fast asleep and was about to do what she usually did: enter inside the Dream Realm while he still had the chance. "And now, for a bit of a nap," he then chuckled, but before he could snuggle down, he felt a sharp CHOMP on his rear end. " **YEEEEOWWW!!** " he screamed, finding Patch clinging to his back end via his teeth. "GET OFF ME, YOU MISERABLE MONGREL!"

Patch snickered through his teeth.

"Get him off! Get him off! Get him off!" Rumple cried out as he ran all around while Patch stayed on for a good while.

* * *

Below in the dungeon, Shrek and Fiona made it to the top of the middle dangling cage. They looked down, waiting for Dragon to leap out at them, and when she did, that was their chance.

"Jump!" Fiona told Shrek who then nodded at her.

They both leaped onto the separate cages, while Dragon got her snout stuck in the middle cage. They looked at each other while holding their chains.

"Now!" Shrek then signaled.

They both leaped off the cages and started swinging around Dragon like a couple of acrobats.

"Woo-hoo!" Fiona cheered.

As Dragon kept struggling to get the cage off her muzzle, the two ogres began wrapping the chains around the reptile, starting with her tail.

"The dragon goes under the bridge!" Shrek began.

"Through the loop!" Fiona added.

"And finally..." Shrek then said.

They then both reached the center of the dragon's back, finishing trussing her in chains.

"Into the castle!" The two then said together as they both tugged on the chains, and Dragon, bound in them, was sent tumbling down.

"Hey! My mom used to tie my shoes to that rhyme!" Thor spoke up with a smile.

"Who knew?" Atticus shrugged in the background.

Some witches ran and flew off on their brooms, screaming. On the balcony, Rumple saw that the ogres were closing in on both sides where he was, giving him nowhere to run. He then made a break for the balcony's railing as the ogres had him cornered. He turned back towards them, then he leaped off backwards, to the ogres' shock. Then they were surprised further to see the short foe riding on Fifi, who was flying upwards so they could make their escape.

"So long!" Rumple laughed with sinful glee as his ghastly goose took off.

"He's getting away!" Mo exclaimed.

"Oh, like hell he is!" Lionel retorted before he whipped out his arms to snag the goose by the legs.

Fiona and Shrek grabbed hold of each other, as they hung onto Lionel so they could pull Fifi down.

"Come on, Fifi, go! Go!" Rumple begged as the goose tried flying higher. "Witches, close up the floor!"

The floor began closing up, but the group was soon pulled out just in time.

Fifi tried to keep flying even though it was harder with the chain around her leg.

"Come on, Fifi, go! Flappity flap!" Rumple told his pet, fussing with the goose a bit. "Come on, go! Fly away! Up, up! Go!"

The smirking Shrek pulled the chain, causing Rumple to lose his grip on his goose, as he was sent falling and screaming.

"Fifi, no!" The imp cried out as his fall was stopped when a glaring Fiona caught him, making him give a scared sound.

Fiona then held up the short man like a trophy. "Victory is ours!" she then announced to the others.

All the ogres shouted and cheered in triumph, while raising their weapons. Donkey then started tapping his hooves with Puss doing a little victory tap dance while Atticus took Mo by the hand and spun her around happily, holding her in his arms as Patch let out a victory howl and Thor hugged Lionel so hard and lifted him off of the floor, until at the end when the top of his boots began to split, to the fat cat's embarrassment. Cookie then carried off the worried and defeated villain in his arm, as he and Brogan gave smirks towards him.

"Looks like we're having curly-toed weirdo for breakfast." Brogan said to the others.

"We won, Cherry, we really won." Atticus whispered to his best friend as she continued to doze off.

"Hey, we make a pretty good team." Fiona smiled.

"You have no idea." replied Shrek, as there was silence between them.

Suddenly, Shrek looked down and saw that his hand was glowing bright yellow, making him gasp. He took another glance out the window and saw that the sun was rising.

"Shrek?" asked Fiona, holding him up as he began to stumble.

"Guys, the hourglass is out of sand!" Lionel exclaimed, pointing to the last few grains slipping through.

"His day is up..." Rumple grinned. "His day is--!" But Cookie squeezed him, making the villain gag.

"Shrek?" Fiona asked, looking sad.

"...It's all right." Shrek said, his tone now hushed, as the ogres, the group (minus Cherry), Donkey and Puss watched on sadly.

"Cherry's glowing..." Patch whispered.

"I wonder why?" Mo wondered.

"Yeah." Atticus nodded in agreement.

"It's a shame that she's missing this, but hopefully it gets better." Thor remarked.

"There has to be something we can do!" Fiona begged.

"...Fiona... It's alright," Shrek replied calmly. "You've already done everything for me. You gave me a home and a family."

"You have kids?"

"We have kids. Fergus, Farkle, and a little girl named--"

"Felicia!"

Fiona smiled. "I always wanted to have a daughter named Felicia."

Shrek dug around in his pocket. "And someday..." he pulled out Sir Squeakles, and gave him to Fiona. "...You will."

Fiona looked at it sadly before looking back at him.

"Aww..." The group awed at the mostly cute sight of Shrek and Fiona bonding like this as it should had been.

"You know what the best part of today was?"Shrek soon asked Fiona rhetorically before he answered for her warmly. "I got the chance to fall in love with you all over again."

Tears began to form from Fiona's eyes as she leaned her head towards Shrek's face. The hourglass emptied and the light began to glow brightly all around Shrek's body as Fiona kissed him deeply, and then Shrek began to fade away into nothing but sparkles of golden dust that also began to fade away as Fiona held him. It seemed Shrek was no more. Then the sun rising behind Fiona began to shine brightly, illuminating the whole room as she sat there on her knees with tears running down her face, which was still green, to Puss's notice, just like in the first adventure with Shrek and Fiona.

* * *

"Fiona, the sunrise!" Puss gasped. "You're still... An ogre!"

"True love's form." Fiona realized.

"Impossible!" Rumple snapped.

"The kiss worked." Fiona then said which seemed to trigger something.

Suddenly the wind began blasting and brushing by everyone, also knocking Puss's hat off his head. Everyone looked up and saw the magic golden light that brought Shrek here began to eat away at Rumple's castle like mad. All bricks, shingles, and other material of the castle were sucked away in a magical tornado.

"What?!" Rumple yelled in dismay.

Then, one-by-one, each witch and ogre began to puff away into puffs of yellow smoke. Cookie and Brogan quickly vanished, dropping the imp, and he then saw Fifi vanish in a puff of smoke as well.

"Fifi!" Rumple cried out.

Then Donkey and Puss were the next to vanish.

"Puss!" Fiona called out as she was next.

* * *

Cherry's friends soon went next while she was still knocked out as her body glowed.

The horrified imp, the only one remaining, twisted in circles in place while shouting in alarm as his whole world around him was tearing away and disappearing. "No, no, no! No, not yet! I'm not ready! No, wait!" he then panicked.

Then the floor under him, the only thing remaining, crackled away and he began falling down into an abyss of pure golden light while screaming out loud in horror, before everything went black for him as Cherry was still asleep before a golden dream-catcher fell along with a bag of purple orbs that glowed like Cherry did.


	8. Chapter 8

Cherry soon woke up in a dark room as she looked around before the light shined down on her.

"Congratulations, Cherry, you did it," Drell's voice said as she looked around for him. "You really did it."

"I did, didn't I?" Cherry replied bashfully before she collected her dream-catcher and the bag of purple orbs. "What's this?"

"Fear Drops," Drell said as he stepped over to see the perky goth. "Fear-benders use these on their victims to go deep into your subconscious to use against you and make your worst nightmares come to life and haunt you even in The Waking Realm. Rumplestiltskin must've smuggled some when he took over your dream-bending ability to become The Nightmare King."

"That _would_ explain it," Cherry replied. "I hope the misbegotten little schmuck gets what's coming to him!"

"You let me worry about that," Drell said. "I'm sorry I was really hard on you and I'll try to be more considerate and helpful to your own needs. I just don't want you growing up soft and spineless like a marshmallow."

"Yeah, yeah," Cherry sighed before shaking her head. "So, does this mean I'm gonna wake up now and everything will be back to normal?"

"You and Shrek will be exactly where you were before you met Rumplestiltskin," Drell replied. "I just hope you learned a valuable lesson after going through the infamous 'It's a Wonderful Plot'."

"I have, Drell, I really have, especially with the friends I've made from these adventures," Cherry nodded as she gave him the Fear Drops. "I just hope you put these back to wherever they belong to while me and Shrek go back to where we belong too."

"Hey, consider it done." said Drell as he put them into his jacket and they vanished.

"Thanks, Drell." Cherry said softly.

"You're welcome." Drell nodded as he patted her on the head.

Cherry winced from that before groaning and rolling her eyes in mild annoyance.

* * *

The world changed back to a different world where Shrek was giving his big, loud ogre roar from before. " **RRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!** " Once he was done, he panted and saw where he was. He was back in his own original world and at his kids' birthday party, as if he never left it.

It was as if the magic of true love's kiss reversed everything to the event where he roared. He saw that everyone else in the Candy Apple was left stunned and silent for a bit until they all cheered.

"I love you, Daddy." Butter Pants chuckled as he hugged his father.

"Well, sorry that things didn't go as you wanted, Cherry." said Lionel.

Cherry suddenly hugged him. Lionel looked wide-eyed and suddenly got blushy.

Cherry then hugged Atticus, Mo, Patch, and Thor and they began to do the same, though they mostly had confusion riddled on their faces. "It's so good to see you guys," she said to them. "We're all together... Friends forever."

"...Did someone take down Cherry when we weren't looking and replaced her with a clone?" Atticus asked the others.

"Aw, button it," Lionel retorted. "Just enjoy the hug."

"Hmph..." Atticus rolled his eyes before smiling. "Nice to see you're feeling better, Cherry."

"I feel pretty good right now." Cherry nodded at them.

"And we're glad to know that!" Mo smiled.

"Now then, aren't we supposed to be having a party?" Cherry then reminded.

"Si! She is right!" Puss agreed. "Let us have our fiesta for the ninos!"

"Shrek? Are you okay?" Fiona asked as she came to see her husband.

"Fiona. I've never been better." Shrek beamed as he soon hugged his wife, looking very happy to see her.

Fiona smiled warmly, and the parents then heard their kids playfully roaring.

"Roar!" Fergus soon roared playfully at his siblings.

All triplets began roaring and giggling.

"Hey, Uncle Shrek!" Donkey asked. "How about giving my babies an encore?"

"Please, senior, let us have it!" Puss added.

The others insisted eagerly. However, instead of a roar, Shrek held his nose and blew a toot through his ears. Then, all three of his babies held their noses and blew smaller toots through their ears. As their friends applauded and Puss waved a little yellow flag, Fiona was astounded.

"I didn't know we could do that." Fiona exclaimed as she held Fergus.

"That's my best friend!" Donkey beamed as everyone clapped.

Shrek then looked towards Fiona. "You know, I always thought that I rescued you from the Dragon's Keep." he said.

"You did." Fiona replied.

"No. It was _you_ that rescued _me_." Shrek told her.

The two smiled warmly before kissing with their babies hugging them, while everyone cheered.

"Another happy ending." Thor beamed as he came beside Atticus and Mo and hugged them suddenly.

"And a happy new beginning now is ours," Cherry remarked. "I say we have some cake and take it easy for a while."

"Sounds good to me." Patch approved.

"Solid idea." Lionel replied.

Everyone soon gathered around to have some cake together and enjoy the rest of the party at The Candy Apple. Cherry soon took out her adventure scrapbook to let Lionel take a look at the first two adventures with Shrek and Fiona.

"So that's how it happened..." Lionel noted. "Sounds pretty interesting!"

"More or less, yeah," Cherry replied. "Even if Atticus complained that these stories sounded different than when his dad was a kid."

"Right, because Atticus's dad somehow grew up in The Middle Ages." Lionel remarked.

"And I thought _my_ dad was old." Cherry whispered with a small smirk.

"At least your dad wasn't alive during the time of the Black Plague or something," Lionel replied. "This is mostly a Fairy Tale/Anachronism era."

"Heh... Yeah..." Atticus smiled wearily.

"Still, pretty nice adventures," Lionel said. "What do you guys do when it's time to retire?"

"I dunno, our kids go on adventures for us?" Cherry shrugged nonchalantly with a small smirk. "Heh... Yeah, right."

"I think it would be neat," Lionel replied. "Besides... I dunno what I'd do with my life afterwards, so maybe I'd keep going for a little while."

"Well, I just say and hope that we can enjoy it for a while." Cherry suggested.

"Couldn't agree more." Atticus said.

"Yeah." Mo nodded.

"And I know I'm gonna earn some well-deserved sleep." Cherry then muttered to herself hopefully as they enjoyed the rest of the party.

"You and the rest of us," Lionel chuckled. "And, I doubt it needs to be said, but once again, they lived ugly ever after!"

"That sounds about right." Cherry shrugged.

Everyone then shared a big laugh together after that before a camera was heard and there was yet another page added to Cherry's scrapbook.

"That's a keeper." Lionel smiled as the song "I'm a Believer" by Weezer was playing.

Everyone soon enjoyed the party as much as they could. Hilda and Zelda looked from outside and smiled at each other.

"Hilda, I don't know about you, but I feel mildly refreshed." Zelda smiled at her sister.

"I do too," Hilda said as she winked. "It's almost as though I realized how wonderful and very valuable that our lives are together as long as we stick together."

The Spellman sisters laughed before they shared a hug. Cherry looked over out the window and looked a bit happy to see those two happy together and things were really back to normal for her and Shrek after thier little misadventure together. As for Rumplestilskin? He got his just desserts in the form of having his goose get blown up by Fiona's vocalizing, and being forced to dance by the Pied Piper. Brogan, Cookie, Gretched, and the other witches were even shown and were joining in on the party as the story/adventure wrapped up nicely for everybody. The four witches then began taking off on their broomsticks for a joyride, cheering and whooping. However, the fifth witch couldn't take off because her broom turned out to be Pinocchio's nose grown long. She looked at the puppet behind her and shook her head. The other four witches flew through the sky, and created a rainbow pattern with magic dust. Three of the Dronkeys flew up, each one carrying one of Shrek's kids in the air, going for a joyride themselves. Even Butter Pants was riding a Dronkey himself.

"What a nice party." Mo beamed.

"Not too much for you, is it?" Cherry asked Lionel.

"Course not," Lionel replied. "For once, I think it's juuuust right."

"Good," Cherry nodded. "I was hoping the party wouldn't be too loud or extreme for you... Then again, those are parties catered by Pinkie Pie."

"Yeah, true," Lionel replied. "Might as well enjoy it while it's happening!"

Cherry nodded as they soon continued to enjoy the party until it would be about over. At a stump, Gingy was riding an animal cracker horse like a gingerbread cowboy, with the other animal crackers gathered around him. The Three Pigs appeared, not helping but find the animal crackers tasty.

"Yummy!" Dieter beamed to his brothers.

The pigs chowed down on all the animal crackers, leaving nothing but Gingy and his horse. Shrek and Fiona danced with each other before falling backwards in the mud. Now the ogre couple, and pretty much everyone else, except Rumple of course, the Dronkeys and Dragon, were all making mud angels in the mud, laughing and enjoying themselves, as the Dronkeys flew up in the air.

* * *

Lionel couldn't help but chuckle. "I think the saga is definitely 'ogre' now." he remarked.

"Ah! Hahahahah!" Thor soon laughed out loud.

Cherry rolled her eyes, but then smirked. "Yeah, probably best to stop now before it goes on 'Forever After' and we talk about 'Ogre-Exposed'." she then added.

The others chuckled at that, as 90's Shrek looked on. "Way to go, all-star," he chuckled. "Way to go." And he turned and walked off into the unknown, as he faded from sight.

"Did anyone else see that?" Patch asked the others.

"See what?" The others asked him.

"...Uh, never mind," Patch then shrugged. "Let's just enjoy whatever else we can before we get sent away again."

The others then shrugged and continued to party until the party was soon over, though the group bonded with the ogre triplets. All in all, it was a great party, and a fitting conclusion to Shrek's adventures. Hopefully anyway and speaking of conclusions, this story had reached its as that was...

The End

Until the next time with more adventures to come for Cherry and her friends.


End file.
